I am still searching for answers.
In an article titled “Sheikh Hasina Does in Again in Bangladesh” on January 8, 2024 prolific writer R Chowdhury explained that the longest serving “Lady Hitler” staged the sequel to her trademark electoral fraudulence on January 7. As always, her trusted all-weather sponsor across the border was on board. Millions of political opponents, mostly belonging to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), were either thrown into crammed jails or made to run for lives from her unleashed killer teams. BNP and 62 other parties boycotted the polls, remaining firm on their demand of election under a neutral authority. According to BNP sources, 95% of people rejected Hasina’s electoral farce. In absence of any rival, and with a voter attendance of 5-10%, including some minors and toddlers, the latest franchise ended up as a “dummy hit,” because loyal dummy candidates were fielded to feign it to be “participatory.” As expected, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the quickest and the first to greet his protege Sheikh Hasina. The outside world, for unexplained reasons, made little or no attempt to challenge her travesty of democracy, human rights and the election integrity leading to the January 7 electoral farce of the highest order. The fascist regime awarded itself with a fresh five-year mandate for a repressive rule in which the suffering millions would continue to shoulder the yoke of slavery. It was their “New Year gift,” Chowdhury opined, defying all expectations.
Please see article at Sheikh Hasina Does It Again in Bangladesh: Farcical Election on January 7, 2024 | South Asia Journal)
The 15 years’ spate wasn’t a short time of suffering under the Awami misrule. Added to this was its earlier five-year stint in 1996-2001; and, not forgetting the trauma the nation experienced during its post-independence under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s absolute dictatorship in 1972-75 when 30,000 dissidents and patriots were killed, 62,000 sent to jail to rot and 1.5 million innocents were starved to death–short time and longtime–in a man-made famine in 1974. The people had hoped for a respite next time round. But destiny did not grant them the right to dream for better!
Guardians of Rights and Democracy Looked the Other Way
In keeping with President Biden’s stated policy of “Election Integrity,” the State Department officials had earlier made it a case for Bangladesh to ensure free, fair and participatory elections. Ambassador Peter Haas conveyed the message loud and clear whenever and wherever he had the opportunity, thus earning the wrath of the ruling coterie, including the Prime Minister and her sponsor.
Encouraged by the strong US stance that was echoed by most other countries of the democratic west, the decades long suffering people of the country thought they would finally have an opportunity to freely choose their patriotic and democratic leaders to end their prolonged agony. It was not to be. Why the guardians of democracy, human rights and election integrity looked to the other side on the January 7 farce still remains an incomprehensible mystery to this writer.
October 28 Fissure
On October 28, 2023, when the Hasina administration brutally demolished the opposition BNP at a rally in Dhaka, killing and wounding many, the US and the west mysteriously went on silence mode and allowed the fascists to proceed to stage the January 7 one-sided sham. The US later said that the elections in Bangladesh were not “free and fair,” but assured Sheikh Hasina that it would continue to work with her. So did most other nations of the west, slowly and reluctantly. The technically illegal regime received its certificate of legitimacy from its vital donors and economic partners. For the Prime Minister, it was the license to continue her repressive autocracy with all its vengeance and fury. The Grameen Bank, the bedridden Khaleda Zia and her BNP, among others, are cases in point.
There’s a strange contrast, however! On February 8, 2024, Pakistan held its national election, which by any standard should pass as perfect compared to what happened in Bangladesh a month earlier. Nonetheless, Reuters reported on February 9, the United States, Britain, Australia, the European Union and other countries went public in demanding an urgent probe into the irregularities in the country’s electoral process. Bangladeshi people had no such luck. They had a deep sense of frustration of abandonment, if not betrayal, by all and sundry.
Indo-China Factor
Most fingers point towards New Delhi. Yet I wondered if Uncle Sam’s external policy was so fickle that it could be swayed so quickly and so easily by the twist of a finger of the Chanakya? Indeed, Donald Lu, US State Department’s Chief of South Asia, appeared to confirm it at a discussion on Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS) at the US Institute of Peace (USIP) in mid-February, when he pleaded for the super importance of India and its private sector Adani group in the region. Unmistakably, the theme of his talks was against China which he thought offered “unsustainable debt for unsustainable projects” to the countries against fair “competition from India.”
Practically echoing the Chanakya tune that India was “historically the big player” in the Indian Ocean, Lu was pointblank in telling the local nations, “If you are going to get this right, you have to work with the Indians.” He overlooked the Indian hegemonic component in it. Why would Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and others try to get out of Indian grip and seek help from China? Interestingly, Lu was concerned about Sri Lanka’s independence under Beijing’s influence but didn’t show any such feeling for Bangladesh which has been suffering under New Delhi’s imposing hegemony since 1971.
India is Bangladesh’s closest and biggest neighbor. Dhaka certainly doesn’t want a war with New Delhi. It wants to maintain a friendly relationship on equality and on mutual benefit. Unfortunately, India’s clout has turned it into a hegemonic authority on Bangladesh with the help of its installed protege, Sheikh Hasina. Whatever amount of denial by Indian officials to the contrary, is not borne by ground reality. Surely, the US knows it too.
Professor Ali Riaz of Illinois State University, asserted to the Voice of American (VOA) that “without India’s support for the Awami League government, the U.S. might have played a more robust role before or after the election.” The claim was also echoed by Dr. Pinaki Bhattacharya, a dissident Bangladeshi activist in Paris. According to him, “the citizens of Bangladesh hold the view that Indian influence played a pivotal role in the United States’ decision to retract” from its earlier position on Bangladesh.
(Please see the report at https://www.voanews.com/a/india-out-campaig)
Bangladesh Case
One cannot be so naive as to think that the US’ South Asian policy is dependent on India’s whims and fancies. Even so, why have the State Department officials, big and small, kept hammering on promoting human rights, democracy and election integrity in Bangladesh, particularly since the Biden administration took office in January 2021, to the sharp dissatisfactions of New Delhi and its protégé Hasina? They imposed sanctions on the draconian Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) for serious human right violations. They declared visa restriction on those involved in electoral frauds that would have included the entire Hasina administration, from top to bottom. They also kept Dhaka away from the two Democracy Summits held in 2021 and 2023. Yet, it is difficult to comprehend that a Superpower can switch from its stated goals overnight, under whatever circumstance.
Some analysts say it is the China factor. Perhaps. Again, it is incomprehensible that the US thought it could thwart the northern dragon to spread its flight south by leasing the South Asian neighbors to the vicious Chanakya. Washington has been trying it since 2008 through QUAD, AUKUS, IPS et al, but made little headway. Even American traders have close to $700 billion business with their Chinese counterparts. Afterall, money and business follow their own dynamics. For Bangladesh, the Chinese connection was long before its birth and would be difficult to sever overnight. The big neighbor India cannot always match what its supposed nemesis can do, competition or no completion.
Indian Hegemony
India’s Narendra Modi hosts a 1.45-billion-man market and a fast-rising tech hub, thus attracting the East and the West. He received an unprecedented extravaganza of hospitality in 2023 from President Joe Bide, overlooking the fact that the same leader the US once sanctioned for his complicity in the 2002 massacre of thousands of Muslims in Gujarat. Also ignoring how adversely Modi treated the Muslims and other minorities in his own country. The US actions on Bangladesh seem to confirm that democracy, human rights and national interests move on separate tracks. Understood. Yet, it is not understood why smaller neighbors like Bangladesh should pay the price at India’s behest?
Sarah Yager of the Human Rights Watch (HRW), thought it a dichotomy of the US policy in which it criticized attacks on civilians in Ukraine and Syria but condoned those in Palestine. Israel receives most of its military assistance from the US, and is prevented from using it for violation of human rights. Yet, the Jewish state killed nearly 30,000 innocent Palestinians, half of whom were children, a clear violation of human rights. Yager also mentioned that the US pointed out the violations of international law by China, Ethiopia, Myanmar and Sudan but remained completely silent about Israeli violations. The influential HRW Director further warned that if the US failed to ensure Israel’s legitimate use of the US supplied military wares in Palestine, it would amount to “hypocrisy,” for which the price could be very high.
Sarah Yager of the Human Rights Watch (HRW), thought it a dichotomy of the US policy in which it criticized attacks on civilians in Ukraine and Syria but condoned those in Palestine. Israel receives most of its military assistance from the US, and is prevented from using it for violation of human rights. Yet, the Jewish state killed nearly 30,000 innocent Palestinians, half of whom were children, a clear violation of human rights. Yager also mentioned that the US pointed out the violations of international law by China, Ethiopia, Myanmar and Sudan but remained completely silent about Israeli violations. The influential HRW Director further warned that if the US failed to ensure Israel’s legitimate use of the US supplied military wares in Palestine, it would amount to “hypocrisy,” for which the price could be very high.
“The boycott campaign has provided a focus for deep-seated resentment of India in Bangladesh,” VOA said, further adding, “the campaign, if successful, would be politically very important to the extent that it sends a strong message to the Indian policymakers about growing discontent in Bangladesh.
Boycott India
India’s hegemonic interference in Bangladesh prompted a campaign for Resist Indian Hegemony and Boycott Indian Products. The message is spreading fast. In a report on February 21, 2024 titled, “India Out’ Campaign Gains Traction in Bangladesh,” the Voice of America (VOA) said that stores in Dhaka and Chittagong had their clients of Indian products dwindling.
“Paris based Bhattacharya added, “it was widely believed that the January 7 fraudulent election was possible because “Indiacovertly and overtly sided with the ruling party. “BNP’s RumeenFarhan said, “It is easy to understand why the people are angry and why they have launched this India Out campaign.”
“The boycott campaign has provided a focus for deep-seated resentment of India in Bangladesh,” VOA said, further adding, “the campaign, if successful, would be politically very important to the extent that it sends a strong message to the Indian policymakers about growing discontent in Bangladesh.
*The writer is a democracy and human rights activist.
February 25, 2024
The viewpoints expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions, viewpoints and editorial policies of Aequitas Review.
