By Supporting Hasina, India is Hammering its own National Interests

The long-standing students-led protests against the government in Bangladesh will imply that India must change its relational approach towards Hasina’s Government. The long-standing students-led protests against the government in Bangladesh will imply that India must change its relational approach towards Hasina’s government

India’s Security Centric Approach

India’s security centric approach sees the current established government in Bangladesh, and the ruling Awami League to be the stabilizer against threats from Pakistan based dispensation. But, this has been highly the anti of the aspirations of the Bangladeshi youth, and the current protests are a spark of how the Bangladeshi youth won’t be happy with an status quo ante bellum after the state sponsored machineries murdered 170+ students.

India, whose historical positions are rooted in security based approaches, have risked it’s relations with his relations by assuming Hasina will still stay in power. On the grounds of having Hasina’s presence extremely precarious, India’s stance directly stands against the aspirations of the younger generation of Bangladesh and might severely affect the long lasting relationship with its eastern neighbor.

Why Bangladeshi Youth might turn against India

The Modi Government’s myopic approach has not only underestimated the democratic aspirations of the Bangladeshi youth, but has also sowed the seeds of instability and discontent against India, in a neighbor which is strategically extensively important, which later will compromise the security India seeks to protect.

India needs to introspect not only it’s security centric approach, but also reconsider its relations with Bangladesh, as the backing from India might give Hasina the confidence to crush such nationwide dissent led by the students against Hasina.

Moreover that, the Islamist right wing Jamaat-e-Islami has never achieved more than 5% votes in the Bangladeshi elections. So it will be highly erroneous to assume that Pakistan will significantly influence the Bangladeshi socio-political scenarios. And so is the condition for the nationalist right wing Bangladesh National Party (BNP) which has solely catered to anti Indian or pro Pakistani sentiments. The BNP has sought to achieve establishing a Bangladeshi identity, a goal which has been advertised a lot but worked upon less.

The Stakes of BNP

The allegations that the BNP has supported the insurgents in India during its tenure has made New Delhi’s approach towards Bangladesh parochial. However, it needs to be noted that the insurgent activists weren’t exclusive to the BNP era as they persisted during the Awami rule flk from 1996 to 2001, partly due to India’s involvement in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Such complex history with its neighborhood will require India to reassess it’s position it’s relations with Bangladesh.

This myopic approach of New Delhi will cause a great harm to the relations with Bangladesh, as the youth and the new generation has a high chance to stand against India and its strategic aspirations on the note that India supported the authoritarian government of Bangladesh when the entire nation was in revolution against the government. Hasina’s long standing rhetoric of using the martyrs of 1971 will not longer work, as the youth has rejected the decades of misinformation, historical revisionism and manipulative rhetorics employed by the Hasina’s government for more than a decade.

It’s now clear that Hasina’s government cannot sustain its grip over power for long. If India waits for changing its stance until Hasina’s fall becomes inevitable, the future of India-Bangladesh relations will be in great danger.