While for the past several years, Biden administration has been intensifying its pressure on Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the ruling Awami League government under the pretense of “upholding democracy”, which is seen by many as an attempt of empowering Islamist and jihadist forces including Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), according to Rezaul H Laskar, Foreign Affairs Editor at Hindustan Times, India has informed the United States that pressuring the Bangladesh government over the country’s upcoming general elections could end up strengthening the hand of extremist forces and affecting regional stability, people familiar with the matter said.
Hindustan Times Foreign Affairs Editor Rezaul H Laskar further said: The Indian side conveyed its concerns on this issue to the US during several recent interactions, the people said on condition of anonymity. New Delhi also believes that US pressure on the issue of free and fair elections could push Bangladesh closer to China, a development that can have ramifications for the region, they said.
While the Indian side has made it clear that it too wants a free and fair election process in Bangladesh, it has conveyed to the US leadership that too much pressure in this regard will only end up encouraging the extremist and fundamentalist forces that the Sheikh Hasina government has successfully kept at bay, the people said.
Besides sanctions imposed on Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), a paramilitary force, and several senior RAB officials in December 2021, the US threatened visa sanctions in May 2023 against Bangladeshi nationals believed to be involved in actions that undermine the election process. These actions include the use of measures to prevent political parties, civil society or the media from disseminating their views.
India’s concerns about China taking advantage of the situation created by the US pressure have grown following remarks made by Chinese President Xi Jinping at a meeting with Prime Minister Hasina on the margins of the Brics Summit in Johannesburg on August 23. According to a readout from China’s foreign ministry, Xi said China supports Bangladesh in “opposing external interference” and that Beijing will work with Dhaka to support each other on their core interests.
The readout further quoted Hasina as saying that the Bangladesh-China relationship is based on “mutual respect and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs”.
Hasina, who has been in power since 2009 and is eyeing an unprecedented fourth consecutive term, is seen as one of India’s closest allies in the neighborhood. Besides cracking down on anti-India insurgent groups, her government has ramped up connectivity with India in crucial areas such as energy and trade, including access to key ports for trans-shipment of goods to the northeastern states.
Pressure on Hasina’s government from the US and the European Union (EU) over the issue of the general elections, expected to be held by January 2024, has given a boost to the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which has organized a string of large rallies. One of the people cited above said the BNP, which boycotted the 2014 elections and won only seven seats in the 2019 elections, is expected to win several dozen seats in the upcoming polls.
The rejuvenation of BNP’s close ally, the Jamaat-e-Islami, which has always been anti-India and maintains close links with Pakistan, is also being viewed with concern in New Delhi. On June 10, the Jamaat organized a massive rally in Dhaka for the first time in 10 years.
The Indian side also believes the strengthening of the Jamaat could give a fillip to extremist forces and pose a threat to the India’s eastern and northeastern states that share borders with Bangladesh.
Question here is – whether Biden administration will actually pay any hid to India’s advice, as according to media reports, controversial Nobel Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus has been using his connections with Hillary Clinton and few more members of the Democratic Party, including Barack Obama with the agenda of becoming Bangladesh’s next head of the government, whereas BNP reportedly has given green signal to Yunus to such ambition.
According to credible sources, Muhammad Yunus had telephonic conversation with BNP’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman where the latter has signaled to offer the Nobel Prize laureate a “dignified position” in BNP once he can “succeed in unseating Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from power”.
It is also learnt, Tarique Rahman and Muhammad Yunus have agreed to launch a massive media campaign against the Awami League. Yunus has already finalized a deal with a large PR agency in New York City, which will begin publishing reports and articles in mainstream newspapers in the United States as well as television channels from October this year. Through Bill and Hillary Clinton, Yunus also is contacting CNN and several leading journalists in the United States.
