What Lies behind BNP’s Anti-Indian Stance?

That BNP rejects the memoranda of understanding (MoUs) and agreements made with India during the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s recent visit to India terming them “against Bangladesh’s interests” is a foregone conclusion. They have expressed concern over the MoUs and agreements that may, to their way of thinking, put the country’s sovereignty and independence in jeopardy. They also warned the government that they would launch a movement to “protect the sovereignty and independence of the country”.

The whole thing reminds me of the story of foolishly running after the proverbial crow/kite that has reportedly swooped on a man and taken away his ears while the ears may be absolutely in place. BNP has pitched a story that Bangladesh is going to grant a corridor to India for free. They must have mistaken memoranda of understanding for treaties and are putting wrong construction on issues of transit, transshipment and corridor.

However, the fact remains that the main points of the MoUs include Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), particularly in the fields of Blue Economy and Maritime Cooperation in the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean Region, research on oceanography to be conducted jointly by Bangladesh Oceanographic Research Institute and India’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, and collaborations in digital and green partnerships for sustainable development. Some more agreements have been reached that include improving railway connectivity, launching joint projects in space technology and promoting military education cooperation. MoUs that have been renewed are fisheries, disaster management and health sectors.

BNP’s smelling a rat in these MoUs and agreements is completely preposterous. We are living in an era of international trade which is based on increasingly complex interactions between people, firms, organisations and countries. Global supply chains span over borders, countries and regions.

International trade has become a 24/7 phenomenon and excellence in it calls for connectivity by roads, rail, sea and even telecommunications, financial markets and information-processing. Inappropriate systems of transportation, freight services, logistics and trade-related infrastructure hinder a country’s ability to have access to regional and global trade. Bangladesh, on the way to becoming a smart country, is planning a mega road network. The multimodal connectivity plan is intended to promote cross-border trade and transform Bangladesh into a regional transport and transshipment hub.

But BNP’s anti-Indian stance borders on paranoia which is a hindrance to Bangladesh’s access to global trade. If the European Union (EU) creating a ‘No-Border Europe’ (1985 Schengen Agreement that currently includes 29 countries and 450 million people) can become a thriving community by removing barriers, bringing people closer and boosting mutual economic growth without jeopardising their respective sovereignty and independence, why won’t it be ludicrous to think Bangladesh will lose its sovereignty by fostering connectivity with the South East Asian countries? This is a million-dollar question.

BNP knows the answer, but they are much given to naysaying everything Sheikh Hasina does. They are more a backbiter than a doer. Begum Zia had been to power twice completing 10 (5+5) years and 12 days (after Feb 15, 1996 elections). During her regimes, nothing remarkable happened between Bangladesh and India to strengthen bilateral relations. On her way back home from a visit to India, she admitted in front of the journalists at the airport that she had completely forgotten to raise the issue of water sharing problem while talking to her counterpart in India. She is still an object of ridicule for this.

Since its inception, BNP has been harbouring a grudge against India. As a matter of fact, BNP was born during the political void left by the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. It was composed of people who wanted to politically unite in reaction to the spirit of independence and the fundamental principles of the new country’s constitution to nullify all that was done by Bangabandhu and his government. BNP is more of a political platform that accommodated the anti-liberation folks who pursued a total reversal of Bangabandhu’s domestic and foreign policies. Bangabandhu had good relations with India and Russia because of the two countries’ strong support during Bangladesh’s liberation war. So, the anti-Mujib government led by Ziaur Rahman tilted his foreign policy away from Mujib’s and in favour of the US, China and Pakistan. BNP’s relations with India began to wax and wane from then on.

The incident of the 10-Truck Arms and Ammunition Haul, the largest arms smuggling incident in the history of Bangladesh, that took place in Chittagong on the night of 1 April 2004 during BNP tenure allegedly with the aid of government apparatus proved to be intended for the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), a militant group seeking the independence of Assam from India. ULFA’s military wing chief, Paresh Baruah was believed to be living in Dhaka at that time. This incident leads all Indian governments believe that BNP’s assumption of power will again help fuel the insurgency faced by India in the north-east. Harsh Pant, Vice President for Studies and Foreign Policy at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, said, “India faced a lot of turbulence in Dhaka-Delhi ties before Hasina came to power, but since taking office in 2009, she has been a steadfast ally….Given the challenging neighbourhood that India lives in where it faces a lot of headwinds like China’s increasing presence, it is natural for India to want her to continue in power,” (Voice of America: SOUTH & CENTRAL ASIA, Jan 10, 2024). Indian premier Narendra Modi was the first to congratulate Sheikh Hasina after she secured the fourth consecutive term.
BNP, however, tried to cement their relations with India in many ways but to no avail. Before the January 2024 general elections in Bangladesh, they tried their best to get India pressured by the US into taking a pro-BNP stance. However, India remained neutral saying that it was an internal affair of Bangladesh. BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi’s call for the boycott of Indian products in front of the party’s central office in Nayapaltan on 20 March 2024 has further damaged the party’s relations with India.

So, much as BNP shouts from the rooftops that Bangladesh’s sovereignty is going to sell out to India, it’s remaining unheeded. Sovereignty and independence are not bananas that they will be put on sale at the open market. BNP’s campaign against India is not socially, culturally and politically motivated for the greater interest of the people of Bangladesh. It is rather motivated entirely by parochial party interest. On the pretext of transit issue, BNP is actually spitting venom against India. Completely bankrupt of new ideas, it has chosen to join the ongoing ‘India Out’ campaign that was being conducted on social media, by expatriate Bangladeshis who have been hired by the BNP, American, Chinese, and Pakistani agencies. The “copycat template, borrowed by the BNP from the Maldives, seems to be a desperate gamble bereft of any new ideas… and [it] won’t serve its politics” (The Quint, 2 April 2024).

Writer: Dr. Rashid Askari; former Vice Chancellor of Islamic University Bangladesh

Courtesy: Daily Sun