Yunus’ reluctance to hold elections by December 2025 seems to be goaded only by a misplaced appetite to hold on to power. Although the narrative that is being peddled is “reforms before elections” such an argument does not hold water as the correct manner for reforms to be both introduced and enforced should actually rest on a popularly elected government that has the people’s mandate. Yunus has no such mandate. He was foisted on a Bangladesh by a foreign power for extra-regional considerations including the creation of “corridor” to the Rakhine province of Myanmar to facilitate war equipment for the Arakan Army to shore up its war against the Myanmar Army. The fact that even the Bangladesh armed forces have publicised their opposition to such a move showcases Yunus’ partisanship and willingness to allow Bangladesh to be used by external machinations.
In any event, fair play necessitates that an inclusive election (as India has called for) cannot be without the Awami League contesting it. Although the secular party’s leaders are in exile, hiding or in a state of disarray, the fact of the matter is that 55% of Bangladesh are Awami Leaguers and passionately loyal to Bangladesh’s founding principles when it overthrew a malevolent Pakistan in 1971. Today, if they have been coerced into silence it is because of the muzzle of radical Islamism and street terror led by a few mercenaries cloaked in student’s attire. The banning of the Awami League is not acceptable.
India must make it clear to the world and, of course, to Bangladesh what it means by inclusive elections. By any stretch of imagination, it cannot be without the inclusion of the Awami League, the political party that gave birth to Bangladesh.
The ban on the radical Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) has been revoked by Bangladesh’s judiciary, paving the way for its participation in elections. It is a recorded fact that Gholam Azam’s JeI had collaborated with the rampaging Pakistan army after the onset of Operation Searchlight on 26 March 1971 which resulted in the genocide of the Bengali people in the erstwhile East Pakistan. It is not immediately understood as to how the people who adjudicate in Bangladesh can permit the “Return of the Razakars” even as it sits mute to the banning of the Awami League, a formation which, as aforesaid, was the prime pronouncement for the formation of a new nation. It has to be admitted that free agency is being feloniously denied in present day Bangladesh.
The manner in which a legitimately elected Sheikh Hasina was ousted, it is now beginning to be understood, had no popular endorsement in Bangladesh. It was nothing but swift overthrow of power, the mechanics of which were engineered by an extraneous power and summarily transported to the streets of Dhaka. Among other incidental reasons, one of the explanations for Sheikh Hasina’s fleeing her homeland was because she resisted pressure from the extra-regional power to use her country as a launching detachment against the Myanmarese junta which the Chinese are supporting. Bangladesh was caught in the cross-currents of big power play. The overseas power wants a satellite state in the region and Yunus willingly played into the plot. Even the Chinese who were trying to elbow into the erstwhile East Pakistan were caught off guards. The Chinese do not play chequers in the manner that it has been put out in popular Indian media, but very cautiously and in a calibrated manner even if it means waiting for the turn of a generation. In fact, very little is known about the truth of Lalmonirhat. It is a strong possibility that the plan for a Chinese airbase in Lalmonirhat is yet another propaganda attempt by the West to dupe India.
If Op Sindoor brought back some legitimacy to the shores of India it is because of Modi-Shah’s high Indian political acumen and ability to rise, rally and redeem for India. Indeed, the only force that stood by the nation and steadfast for God and country was the Indian armed forces. India continues to be fortified because its warriors in land, sea and air came as one to defend and protect. India also succeeded in signalling a measured approach to countering cross-border terror.
However, one aspect that needs to be forcefully flagged in the midst of the “fog of war” is the fact that the terrorist eco-system has proliferated beyond Pakistan’s sponsorship. It has not only reached Bangladesh but into India’s vulnerable innards. Recent reports are of the opinion that Islamist tanzeems like Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad in concert with radical groups in Bangladesh are planning a massive radicalisation exercise of students in Indian universities. If such sinister anti-India moves are not nipped in the bud, then the nation will careen out of control. Gratefully pre-emptive steps that are correctly being taken in Assam by a farsighted Assamese leadership and the Assam Police, are laudable and must be emulated by the rest of India.
It might be questioned as to why is India has suddenly become so protective of Bangladesh.
The answers are simple. First, because it had lent valuable Indian blood during its creation in 1971. Secondly, because it wants to safeguard its backyard from the rise of radical Islamism emanating from Bangladesh that may threaten the North East and in times to come the rest of India and finally to protect the sacred eastern shores from extra-regional piracy.
The planning that must occupy the policy makers in Raisina Hill in the coming weeks and months should be not only to “archive the pain” that has been endured in Dhaka and Pahalgam in the last several months, but go forward in a positive quest for immediate remedial housekeeping in a country whose socio-political character has an important bearing on India’s North East.
Lt Gen Arun Kumar Sahni is a Former Army Commander and GOC Dimapur Corps. Jaideep Saikia is a top strategist and bestselling author.