2 weeks Ago By Firstpost
Frankenstein is a failed scientific experiment. It disobeys the master. China and the US have experimented with Bangladesh.
They create a Frankenstein, destabilising the status quo. India is their primary target. It does not align with either of them because of the chequered history it shares with them.
The Sino-Indian War of 1962, China’s hegemonic instincts, territorial appetite, and unreliability, and the US’ pro-Pakistan proclivities and diplomatic ambiguity are not dusted in history for India. It is pretty fresh in its memory. To forget history is to repeat its mistakes.
It is difficult for India to cling to either of them. It does trade and do business with them with remarkable commitment, but to belong to either of the camps will not be its conscious decision. India is a civilisational state.
It has an identity of its own and a global stature as a leader of the Global South. It believes in the philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world is one family) that emphasises mutual cooperation, shared responsibility, and a better future without exercising hegemony. It does not wish to be anyone’s B team or an affiliate.
This resolve and courage send no good signal to the two competing powers of the Indo-Pacific geopolitical space. Therefore, they foist Bangladesh on India. India has not expressed any knee-jerk reaction or an instantaneous outburst in the event of Prime Minister Sheikh Hassan’s exit from Bangladesh and anti-India histrionics.
It prefers measured silence to a provocative reaction. Frankenstein does everything in its custody to disturb the uneasy calm of India. The maturity of India and its great patience are evident from its silent absorption of invectives from ideologically radical Islamists and paid fanatics.
This will pass after a brief commotion. What will follow the hiatus is a distressing economic crisis. The Sino-American experiment will fail, engendering a prolonged civil war in Bangladesh.
The extremists who have been unleashed against India and the Hindu minorities in Bangladesh will surely take the country to a crisis. The problem with the US is that it is good at creating crises but a disaster in settling them. This is a historical reality.
Wherever the US has meddled with, it has been the inevitable corollary. Once Frankenstein is allowed to flex its muscles, it will damage everyone indiscriminately, including the master. All indicators from the status quo present a dystopic picture of a chronic civil war and troubled future.
The implanted interim government under Muhammad Yunus did everything opposite to what he professed. His liberalism, Western education, and Nobel laureate bravado whimper under the dictates of the radical elements. He is no better than a puppet who does what is told to him.
The octogenarian descended on the fractured politics of Bangladesh to release terrorists, succumbing to Islamic radicals, and allow anti-India and anti-Hindu forces to resort to violence, hate-mongering and fake narrative peddling. The condition of the Hindu minorities in Bangladesh has not seen any significant change. The overt forms of violence on the Hindus have become more subtle, covert, and consistent.
The stories that come out of Bangladesh speak of their apathy. They cannot celebrate their Durga Puja freely in Yunus’ Bangladesh. They have been told to stop playing Durga puja music during Azaan and Namaz.
The US, which takes pride in democracy, the rule of law, and minority rights, has paid no heed to the suffering of the Hindu minorities. The Western media does not notice the violation of religious freedom and human rights abuse in Bangladesh. When it comes to India, they unleash all their might with lofty languages to make a mountain from a molehill.
Yunus has released Jashimuddin Rahmani Hafi, the chief of the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), an al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist outfit. He has lifted the ban on Jamaat-e-Islami. This outfit supported the Pakistani Army against the Bangladeshi nationalists during the Liberation War in 1971.
It now calls the shots in the interim government. Therefore, Bangladesh is regressing to its East Pakistan avatar. Pakistan’s deep state ensures this relapse with its cohorts and clones in Bangladesh.
If this happens, it will not be good news for the US and China. Though they wish fundamentalism to take firm roots in Bangladesh, their objective of controlling India will be fulfilled. The US’ poor ratings in conflict resolution will create a Frankenstein who will slip the master’s control and punish it.
Chinese interventions in Pakistan and its ambitious China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) have caused massive unrest across the country. This has developed a cloud of uncertainty over the possible completion of this project. China makes the same mistake in Bangladesh.
It will bear the brunt soon. However, Yunus’ ascension to power is a tactical move to encourage anti-India animus in its neighbourhood. The alleged lynching of a Hindu boy in the police station, forcing the Hindu teachers, judges, professors, police personnel, government officers, and employees to quit their jobs, stopping the export of Padma Hilsa to India, and a host of other things are designed to hurt India indirectly.
He does everything antithetical to India’s interest and sheds crocodile tears to dilute his misdeeds and his collaborators’ religious bigotry. The extremist forces that have hijacked Bangladesh and are preparing it to make it an Islamic state may also witness the rise of its antinomy. The Awami League, which appears rudderless today because of the vacuum of leadership, may revive as a solid opposition to Jamaat-e-Islami and its radical affiliates if it finds a strong leadership.
The Awami League formed the government in 2009 under Sheikh Hasina’s leadership and continued until her exit last month. It is one of the oldest parties formed on the visions of Bangabandhu Mujibur Rehman. The demolition of his statues, their vulgar desecration, and the metaphorical burial of his vision of a new Bangladesh may inspire a resistive and revolutionary political wave contrary to the narratives of radical Islamists.
Suppose the interim government does not initiate a political process of fresh elections and a new government formation. In that case, the Awami League may take this up as a legitimate reason for their protest against the authoritarianism of Yunus’ patchwork government. No significant sign is visible on the ground for forming a new government.
It seems that Muhammad Yunus may stretch his rule longer than expected. This may trigger considerable unrest leading to a civil war. The economic slowdown and the weight of inflation will exacerbate social tension.
It will do no good for either the US or China. Frankenstein will not even leave his master. The latter will be his last casualty.
Jajati K Pattnaik is an Associate Professor at the Centre for West Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Chandan K Panda is an Assistant Professor at Rajiv Gandhi University (A Central University), Itanagar. The views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the authors.
They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views..
