New York Times Report: Bangladesh-India once friendly relations are now bitter

Last Updated on December 4, 2024 4:16 pm

The influential American daily The New York Times (NYT) believes that the once friendly relations between the two South Asian neighbors, Bangladesh and India, have now turned bitter.

This was stated by The New York Times in a report titled ‘Two South Asian Neighbors, Once Friendly, and Now at Bitter Odds’ on the current relations between the two countries.

After the report was first published in the online edition on November 28, another version of it was published in the newspaper (print) on Sunday with a different title.

The report was jointly written by Saif Hasnat and Anuprita Das from Dhaka and Mujib Mashal from New Delhi.

The report said that the tensions that have been simmering for several months between the once friendly neighbors India and Bangladesh have recently come to light. After a Hindu priest was arrested in Bangladesh on charges of sedition, the two neighbors have leveled angry accusations against each other.

In August, a popular uprising in Bangladesh ousted Sheikh Hasina, an ally of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She fled to India. Her continued presence in India has strained relations between the Bangladesh interim government and the Modi government.

The interim government of Bangladesh, led by 84-year-old Nobel laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus, has expressed concern that Hasina is plotting to return to power in India. Bangladesh’s interim government leaders have also accused India of exaggerating attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh for political gain.

The latest flare-up in relations between the two countries was the arrest of Chinmoy Krishna Das, a Hindu priest in Bangladesh. Hindus make up less than 10 percent of the 170 million-strong Muslim-majority country.

Chinmoy Krishna Das was previously associated with the influential international Hindu organization, the International Society of Krishna Consciousness, also known as ISKCON or the Hare Krishna Society.

A court in Chittagong, Bangladesh, has sent Chinmoy Krishna Das to pre-trial detention under the colonial-era sedition law. Earlier, a local politician had filed a complaint (at the Kotwali police station) alleging that Chinmoy Krishna Das had disrespected the Bangladeshi national flag at a rally calling for an end to the persecution of Hindus. He had lowered the Bangladeshi national flag and raised the saffron flag (a symbol of Hinduism) on top.

The incident turned deadly when Chinmoy Krishna Das’ supporters surrounded the court. Police officials said law enforcement tried to control the situation. A Muslim lawyer was hacked to death during the incident. There have been allegations of attacks and intimidation in the Hindu neighborhood following the killing.

It is still unclear who killed the lawyer. Police have arrested more than 20 people on charges of violence. Lawyers in Chittagong city boycotted the court in protest against the lawyer’s killing.

In a statement, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said it was unfortunate that a religious leader was facing legal troubles for raising legitimate demands through peaceful assembly. Meanwhile, extremists involved in attacks on minorities, including desecration of Hindu deities and temples, remain at large.

Supporters of Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India’s West Bengal state, which borders Bangladesh, have threatened to block the border if Chinmoy Krishna Das is not released.

Sheikh Hasina has run a police state. Her government has coordinated closely with India to keep some extremists in check, who have come to the fore since her fall. But deadly attacks on Hindus have continued to occur under her rule.

Officials in Dr. Yunus’s interim government have promised equal protection for all Bangladeshis. “India has turned the plight of Bangladesh’s Hindu minority into an emotional political tool to downplay the movement that brought down Hasina, New Delhi’s favorite leader,” they said.

Bangladeshi officials have pointed to a steady stream of exaggerations and disinformation from India. Right-wing Indian social media accounts and pro-government media outlets have often used terms like genocide to describe the “hundreds of deaths” in the widespread violence that followed Sheikh Hasina’s ouster. However, Hindu leaders in Bangladesh have said that only a few of their community were among the victims.

In an interview with The New York Times last week, Dr. Yunus acknowledged the strained relations with Bangladesh’s big neighbour. He cited India’s protection of Sheikh Hasina and India’s ‘propaganda’ as reasons for the deterioration of Bangladesh’s relations with India. He said that the ‘propaganda’ spread from India is saying that the government is falling under the control of extremists.

Dr. Yunus said, ‘She (Hasina) is in India. She is talking continuously. This is a bit of a destabilising thing for the whole country and we have tried to draw the attention of the Indian government and said that this is not fair. You are giving space to someone who has been expelled from Bangladesh, and you are letting him talk.’

Dr. Yunus said that India is trying to create an image that Bangladesh under him (Dr. Yunus) is becoming ‘like Afghanistan’. He said that this is making the difficult task of the country’s new journey even more difficult.

Dr. Yunus said, ‘If you destabilize Bangladesh, you will also destabilize yourself. Because the elements of this instability will spread everywhere around us.’

However, analysts say that Sheikh Hasina used the same colonial-era law to suppress dissent, and sent the Hindu priest to prison. Dr. Yunus’ government did not do well.

Some of Sheikh Hasina’s bad actions, such as mass cases against members of the dissident movement, are still ongoing.

Nur Khan Liton, an advisor to the Human Rights Support Society of Bangladesh, said that words like ‘treason’ and ‘conspiracy to destabilize the situation’ are being used, which we have seen before.

Sarjis Alam, one of the leaders of the student-public movement against Sheikh Hasina, has called for a ban on ISKCON in Bangladesh. He called ISKCON an “extremist organization” and said, “It is in league with India to plot against us.”

ISKCON leaders in Bangladesh say the organization abides by the law. They expressed grief over the death of the Muslim lawyer outside the court. They initially issued a statement supporting Chinmoy Krishna Das, but later distanced themselves from it.