- The Indian top leadership, especially the Union Government, must be concerned with the way the Bangladesh situation is panning out over the last couple of years. It all started with the uprising and the subsequent ousting of the then-elected government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, representing the Awami League. As we know, the present interim government is led by the Nobel laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus as Chief Adviser. The immediate fallout of the uprising and the ouster of Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India, has been a shift in the direction of India and Bangladesh’s relationship. The increasingly fundamentalist interim regime is fanning the anti-India narrative denote more than serious concerns for the Indian ruling dispensation.
PC: Deccan Herald
- The anti-India and anti-Hindu sentiments running deep within Bangladesh have led to innocent killings, incarceration, destruction of property, and a general feeling of helplessness for the Hindu minority community in that country. The recent widespread vandalism and arson that Bangladesh witnessed in the last week further exacerbates the already prevalent sense of chaos. As reported, mobs specifically targeted multiple sites, including two of Bangladesh’s largest newspapers, The Daily Star and Prothom Alo, trapping journalists inside their burning offices for hours before they were rescued. These are signs of the interim administration not having any control over the worsening law and order situation, which doesn’t augur well for the Indian security apparatus.
PC: ABC News
- Also targeted were Indian diplomats, in Rajshahi protesters tried to move towards the office of the Indian regional diplomat, while stone pelting was reported near the Indian assistant high commission office. In a separate incident not related to the protests, a Hindu Bangladeshi was lynched, tied to a tree, and set on fire in Mymensingh. There can be only two conclusions: either the Yunus government has lost control, or it is deliberately fanning the violence. Tensions had been building up for a week over student leader Osman Hadi being shot by unidentified gunmen. But some sections of the current Bangladeshi dispensation were quick to blame India without a shred of evidence. They have again threatened to sever India’s northeast states.
PC: Dawn
- Worryingly, all of this is further straining an already fraught India-Bangladesh relationship. It’s time Dhaka wakes up and smells the coffee. Following Hasina’s ouster last year, radical Islamist elements have been steering the interim government – Yunus is just a face. They also want to skew the February 2026 election in their favour. Therefore, India, given that Hasina is here, is a convenient target to whip up passions. But this is dangerous territory. Bangladesh risks slipping into an Islamist fundamentalist state. Plus, Pakistan’s footprint in that country has grown since Hasina’s ouster. ISI, via Bangladeshi radicals who seem to be in charge, would be looking to reverse the liberation legacy of 1971. India must be on guard from here on.
