India must play hard ball in Bangladesh

‘New Bangladesh’ must eliminate jihadists for ties with India

By Manish Anand

New Delhi, August 21: Signs are visible that India is waking up to the shock reality of a sudden regime change in Bangladesh. Evidently, the new shenanigans in Dhaka seek to monetise violence against the minority Hindus as trade off with India.

India’s high commissioner in Dhaka Pranay Verma met the advisor to the Bangladeshi foreign ministry Touhid Hossain at the first opportunity. That was followed by the Chief Advisor to the Interim Government Muhammed Yunus calling up Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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While diplomatic niceties indicate ‘New Bangladesh’ telling India to wake up to a new dawn, New Delhi will be too naïve to abandon long held policy on the eastern neighbour. The students’ leaders, who led the ouster campaign against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, have directed the blames for attacks on Hindus to the Jamat-e-Islami.

That affirms India’s risks, at distance to sniff, for the longest border of the country is with Bangladesh. Strategic affairs analyst Ramananda Sengupta wrote in 2016 in Rediff that Daesh, or the Islamic State wants Bangladesh as the key foothold for its ‘global jihad’.

Sengupta in his analytical piece lensed appointment of Abu Ibrahim Al-Hanif as the ‘Amir Of The Khilafah’s (Caliphate’s) soldiers in Bengal (Bangladesh)’.

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Sengupta quoted from the interview of Hanif on the IS website. “Bengal is an important region for the Khilafah and the global jihad due to its strategic geographic position. Bengal is located on the eastern side of India, whereas Wilayat Khurasan (The Af-Pak region) is located on its western side,” Sengupta quoted from the long interview of the Hanif.

He was further quoted, saying: “Thus, having a strong jihad base in Bengal will facilitate performing guerrilla attacks inside India simultaneously from both sides and facilitate creating a condition of tawahhush (savagery aimed at creating fear and chaos) in India along with the help of the existing local mujahidin there.”

The US had been guided by India largely on matters of Bangladesh, possibly due to the complex geostrategic challenges. “The US has largely been guided by India in matters of the South Asian nations with the exception of Pakistan. But there appears to have been changes lately on the stance of Washington,” Shashank, India’s former foreign secretary, said in an online discussion recently.

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Shashank also argued that the drift in the US stance on Bangladesh could also have been on account of Hasina’s refusal to join the Quad, the four-nation grouping with India Pacific as the focus. Hasina maintained an aloofness from the big theatre geostrategic playoff.

But the US may still be listening to India on matters of Bangladesh. The Washington Post last week reported that the US changed tack after India spoke on behalf of Hasina. Washington indeed toned-down insinuations against Hasina for past few months.

The US already mired in the quagmire of the Middle East fault-zones may still count on India to deal with challenges in Bangladesh.

The visit of the Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to New Delhi was marked with an announcement that India will prove two lakh metric tons of white rice to Malaysia. India pays a heavy cost for the cultivation of Malaysia.

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‘New Bangladesh’ is also telling India that the supply of essentials be maintained. Bangladesh, geographically, protrudes out of the arms of India. To imagine existence without India will be foolhardy for Bangladesh.

That must reveal to New Delhi to draw a hardline on Bangladesh – the supply of essentials along with economic partnership are not deeds of charity. India must demand from ‘New Bangladesh’ a hot pursuit against ‘jihadists’, and visible elimination of anti-India elements.

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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