New Delhi: With the general election in Bangladesh barely two weeks away, diplomats and military experts gathered in Delhi to discuss the most interesting contradiction in ties between the two countries. How is Bangladesh India’s best friend in the neighbourhood at a time when anti-India sentiments are high in that country?
While Delhi and Dhaka have shared close ties over the past few decades, with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina herself referring to ‘strong bonds of friendship’, all isn’t as rosy between the two neighbours as it seems.
The discussion was the last session of the Neighbourhood First series held at the Indian International Centre in Delhi. Titled ‘Elections in Bangladesh: Again a Walkover for Sheikh Hasina?’, the session was chaired by Major General Ashok K Mehta (Retd). “In spite of incredible exchanges between the Indian and Bangladesh militaries, there is anti-India sentiment within the people. When the Bangladesh Army does its military tabletop exercises, guess who the enemy is? It’s India,” said Gen Mehta.
The scant audience at the talk showed how little Bangladeshi politics interested Delhi and highlighted India’s indifference to its neighbour in the East.
Mehta highlighted the pervasive nature of anti-India sentiments in Dhaka, which could affect its ties with Delhi. On the contrary, Veena Sikri, former High Commissioner to Bangladesh and panellist at the event, said that Delhi-Dhaka ties “are an excellent reflection of India’s Neighbourhood First policy”.
“India-Bangladesh relationship has grown based on mutual trust between leaders. This mutual benefit has been an important factor. Issues such as border infrastructure, Teesta water agreement are still under discussion,” Sikri said. The anti-India sentiment in Dhaka, the former envoy added, is being propagated by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), whose leaders are desperately trying to shed its “anti-Hindu” image.
The chaos across the border
The Bangladeshi general election is scheduled for 7 January. Hasina, who has been in power since 2009, is expected to retain her position as PM despite drawing attention towards her ‘high-handed’ approach. After clashes erupted between opposition leaders and law enforcement officials in October 2023, many BNP members were jailed, including Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. Last week, the BNP even urged voters to boycott the polls, calling it a “one-sided dummy election”. Over the past few months, opposition leaders have demanded that Hasina resign and a caretaker government take over until elections are held, an arrangement similar to the one in Pakistan right now. However, such a governmental setup was illegalised in 2011 when the country’s Supreme Court scrapped the provision from the Constitution.
And Sikri is on the same page as Bangladeshi law. “Why is it that the opposition is asking for a system to be reinstated when it has already been deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court?” she asked.
She also doesn’t agree with those who claim that the BNP’s boycott of the election questions the polls’ legitimacy. “In a democratic system, when a political party is given the option to participate in the elections, which is their duty, and they choose not to do so, can the polls then be called undemocratic? Or is it an exercise of the free democratic right of every political party to decide whether they want to participate?” she asked. If the second largest political party in Bangladesh has chosen to opt out, would that make for a sound basis for declaring the polls “unfair”, Sikri further asked.
India & US on Dhaka
The upcoming election has highlighted the different approaches that India and the US have taken concerning Bangladesh politics. While New Delhi has called any concerns about the legitimacy of the democratic process in Bangladesh an “internal matter”, Washington has threatened the country with visa restrictions on civilians.
“Americans will not decide what kind of democracy Bangladesh will have. The BNP’s decision not to contest shows its over-reliance on the US and West to get their issues heard. But the BNP cannot depend on Washington to deliver democracy in the country. That’s not going to happen. Democracy is being instrumentalised by the US to attack Hasina,” said Smruti S Pattanaik, senior fellow at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, who was present as a panellist at the event. In contrast, Sikri said that Washington and Dhaka need to be engaged in more active dialogue.
Against this backdrop is China’s heavy investment in Bangladesh. And this necessitates a more open dialogue between Delhi and Dhaka, the panellists said. “India needs to define its red lines when it comes to Chinese projects in Bangladesh that might affect its national security. On the whole, New Delhi can’t just say China should not invest in the country. We can’t be too sensitive about Chinese influence in Bangladesh,” said Pattanaik.
For others, Beijing’s ‘overpowering presence’ in Dhaka is a clear red line. Sikri mentioned how Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming warned Dhaka about its Indo-Pacific policy in 2021, stating that ties could be “substantially damaged” if Bangladesh joined any Quad-led initiative.
(Edited by Humra Laeeq)