International Politics & Diplomacy । আন্তর্জাতিক রাজনীতি ও কূটনীতি

After the recent elections in Bangladesh, it is good to see India reconsidering the stand it had taken during Muhammad Yunus’s rule. We may now be on the way to regaining our only steadfast friend in the neighbourhood, as the Indian establishment has swung out of its fixation with Hasina and accepted the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) as India’s best bet. It took more than a year for our government to view the BNP with more kindness despite the party’s anti-India track record.

The public ecstasy at India swinging two big trade deals, the India-UK FTA and the recent deal with the European Union (EU), reveals more skills at event management than in ensuring immediate economic survival after US President Donald Trump’s tariff terror. Even as we hope, privately or otherwise, that we have survived Genghis Khan’s devastation of our dear, comfortable world of free and open trade, we really need to get real.

Sheikh Hasina’s downfall on 5 August 2024 was a chronicle foretold by all, except NewDelhi’s ‘state operators’ who continued with their domineering agenda. A hastily put togetherinterim government under Muhammad Yunus as ‘Chief Advisor’ worsened matters and a‘reign of terror’ followed in Bangladesh.

A couple of days ago, a 27-year-old Indian student, working at a gas station at night was shot dead by an unidentified gunman in Dallas, USA. Another shooter had 'Nuke India' etched on his bullets. In July 2024, the Diaspora Engagement Division of the MEA said that over the preceding 3 years, 1,622 Indians died in accidents, 686 due to occupational hazards, 1,736 from suicide, and 136 from violence and murder. The last two are worrisome as they include several racial hate crimes.

In July-August last year, Indians were quite shocked at the scenes of street violence in Bangladesh, as police and armed forces strained to quell an unprecedented mass uprising against then prime minister Sheikh Hasina. What began as a students’ protest against the reimposition of hated quotas for families of ‘freedom fighters’ (of the 1971 war of liberation) turned into a all-out battle between forces for and against Sheikh Hasina. Lakhs of angry protesters moved their target from ‘quotas’ to her autocratic governance – and dragged India in, for propping up her unpopular regime.