India’s oldest periodical The Organiser has published a cover story on Bangladesh’s upcoming January 7 general elections titled ‘Bangladesh election 2024 – At Crossroads’ with front-page intro stating “January 7, 2024 election in Bangladesh has acquired important national, regional and international dimensions. The minority Hindus are looking for safety and equality in the state that was carved out by rejecting the Islamic idea of Pakistan. Whether the electorate opts for democracy over radicalism is the central question”.
The cover story is penned by internationally acclaimed multi-award-winning anti-militancy journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury.
Same issue of The Organiser also carries and exclusive interview of Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, Bangladesh’s Home Minister who is quoted saying, “Awami League will never forget the way India has helped us”.
Editor of The Organiser, Prafullar Ketkar has also penned an editorial titled ‘2024 – The Elections Year: Why elections in Bharat are different from Pakistan and Bangladesh’. At the concluding paragraph of his editorial, Mr. Ketkar write: “Bharat, as the mother of democracy, has always cherished the values of multiple voices, values and ways of worship, which Pakistan and Bangladesh, with growing Islamic radicalism, find it difficult to imbibe. In2024, let the true spirit of democracy inspire the entire world, curbing the tendencies of religious supremacy and dictatorship”.
In the cover story titled ‘How US support to BNP could change Bangladesh into a sanctuary of Islamist radicals’, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury wrote: “With the next general election scheduled to take place in January 2024, ultra-Islamist and notoriously anti-Bharat and anti-Hindu-political force namely Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is continuing countrywide blockade, setting fire to public transports, physically attacking members of law enforcement agencies thus creating a reign of terror – its ideological allies such as Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) is also xeroxing similar destructive acts whereas pro-Sharia Islamic Constitution Movement and pro-Caliphate Hefazat-e-Islam (HeI) are also running destructive acts with the ulterior agenda of toppling Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the ruling Awami League. BNP, Jamaat and its Islamist-jihadist cohorts are repeatedly branding Awami League and Sheikh Hasina as being “puppets” of India and even going further by branding them as “enemy of Islam”.
He further wrote, “BNP’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman was born in Karachi on November 20, 1967.
On August 21, 2004, at the direct instructions of Tarique Rahman, terrorists of BNP along with members of militancy outfits such as Harkat-ul-Jihad (HuJI) had launched grenade attacks targeting Sheikh Hasina and leaders of Awami League. According to the court verdict, this gruesome attack was a well-orchestrated plan through abuse of state power. And all the accused, including BNP Senior Vice Chairman Tarique Rahman and former top intelligence officials, were found guilty and handed down various punishments for the grenade attacks that killed 24 people and injured scores. In the murder case, Tarique and 18 others were sentenced to life in prison.
“The conviction of these once influential politicians, former top officials of police, DGFI, NSI, CID and top HuJI militants exposes the meticulously-devised plan and abuse of state machinery to not only carry out the attack, but also to mislead the investigation.
“Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) made frantic bids back in 1996 and again in 2006 to remain in power by holding dubious general elections by setting its own people in various key positions. But such notorious bids were foiled due to a mass movement led by the Awami League under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina. During the 2008 general elections, BNP failed to win a majority mostly because of its extreme romance with Islamists and jihadists as well as its direct involvement in terrorist acts – including gruesome grenade attacks on the leaders of Awami League as well as its involvement in supplying weapons and explosives to the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), a separatist outfit in the northeastern state of India. BNP’s direct involvement in supplying weapons and explosives is a strong evidence of its participation in cross-border terrorist acts, while its notorious attempt of assassinating Sheikh Hasina and leaders of Awami League through 2004 grenade attacks proves – leaders of this ultra-Islamist party are terrorists.
Tarique Rahman, acting chairman of BNP is a convicted terrorist, while he is trying to turn a secularist Bangladesh into a neo-Taliban state”.
The Organiser cover story is also available on the online edition of the newspaper.
I read the cover story in The Organiser and it is extremely informative. Through this cover story, I also have read article written by Mr. Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury and have become interested in reading his articles anywhere I can find. Because, he arguments are not vague. Instead he provides reference to every important point. Indian newspapers need to encourage Mr. Choudhury by publishing his write ups, as in my opinion, such unbiased journalists deserve our support. Long live Bharat-Bangladesh friendship and bondage.