by R Chowdhury February 2, 2024
“Violating human rights is integral to the project of neoliberalism and global hegemony.”—Arundhati Roy
In 2018, Indian Home Minister and the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party President Amit Shah termed Bangladeshis (immigrants) as termites that ate up India! But the ground reality is the opposite. And, New Delhi’s insinuation is not lost on the Bangladeshi people; and to my knowledge, it has not retracted the demeaning term yet.
A Close Look
India earns close to $14 billion (2022) from its exports to Bangladesh, for whom it is the second highest give away after China. According to the Daily Star of Dhaka, nearly a million legal and illegal Indians work in Amit’s “termite country,” and the Indian Daily Industry acknowledged on June 7, 2022 that they send home over $10 billion, the fourth highest from Indians abroad. Besides, the “termites” spend more than $10 billion a year in India. Most Indian markets bordering Bangladesh, as well as those in Kolkata and Agartala, thrive on Bangladesh business. Considering the unauthorized employment and the various clandestine methods of money transfers, the total flight of money from Bangladesh coffers across its border could aggregate $50 billion, according to MBI Munshi, a prolific political commentator.
On the contrary, the reverse traffic is minimal. India resists Bangladeshi products on various tariff and non-tariff barriers, resulting in an abnormal trade imbalance between the two. So, who eats on whom?
Free Pass
This is one side of the story. India’s real benefit, or extraction to be precise, out of Bangladesh is in its security and communication with its troublesome northeast, romantically called the Seven Sisters. Renowned journalist and a former minister Mahmudur Rahman, in a talk show hosted by exiled media activist Dr. Kanak Sarwar on January 19, 2024, spoke on not only the Indian political, economic and cultural aggressions in Bangladesh, but also the benefits it has been accruing from its eastern neighbor. “Bangladesh is not an independent,” he said, pointing at the way the hegemon neighbor had been controlling Bangladesh in its political, administrative and cultural affairs through its obliging protege Sheikh Hasina over the past 15 years. It secured almost free passage through the country by land, air and sea to the Seven Sisters avoiding the previously difficult Chicken Neck, a 17-mile constricted hilly route in Siliguri, northwest of Bangladesh. Under Hasina, the country has virtually served as an Indian vassal and feeder state, much to the great disadvantage and loss of national interests and even sovereignty.
In addition, the country’s resources have been plundered through reckless corruption. The people of the country have not seen the minimum semblance of democracy, human rights and freedom of expression. They have reached almost the end of the rope.
In return, Hasina is allowed to stay in authority, albeit illegally, by orchestrating extensive electoral frauds, masterminded and abetted by her sponsor. In the 2014 elections, major opposition parties that included the largest Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), boycotted, knowing it to be a one-sided farce. They have been demanding elections under a neutral authority to ensure fairness. More than half of the country did not have to vote as the candidates were declared automatic winners. The 2018 one was called the “Midnight Election,” because the ruling party operatives pre-filled the ballot boxes for their chosen candidates the night before in the watch of the election officials and local administration. The latest one staged on January 7, 2024, BNP and 62 other parties boycotted, standing firm on their demand for a credible election under a neutral administration. This time, the fascist regime employed an innovation in which dummy candidates were fielded to give the election a “participatory” character, but earning the title “Dummy Election.” More than 90% of the voters rejected the election by staying away from the polls, despite various coercive measures by the ruling elements.
Indeed, India’s Narendra Modi was the first and the quickest to greet Hasina, who gratefully responded to her “good friend.”
Call of Unity Against Hegemony
In this backdrop, on January 15, 2024, freedom and democracy fighter Zoglul Husain initiated the campaign for the unity of the people of Bangladesh on the following crucial fronts: 1) Resist Indian hegemony; 2) Resist Hasina’s Fascism; and 3) Boycott Indian goods. He had given a vivid picture of how Bangladesh has been reduced to an Indian hegemonic playground with the help of its surrogate Sheikh Hasina, who was installed in January 2009 through a conspiratorial arrangement. Please see the details of his call in the following link:
https://aequitasreview.org/bangladesh-resist-indian-hegemonism-and-sheikh-hasinas-fascism/.
He followed it up with another assertive call in the following link:
https://aequitasreview.org/struggle-and-only-struggle-can-rescue-bangladesh-now-by-zoglul-husain/
Zoglul Husain detailed the widespread crackdown on a BNP rally of about one million supporters in Dhaka and then a calculated spree of arrests, torture, witch-hunt of the opposition members to facilitate its electoral farce that saw a voter turnout of less than 10%.
Mahmudur Rahman, Pinaki Bhattacharya, a Bangladeshi exiled democracy and human rights activist in Paris, and many others picked up the theme and went head on for the “Boycott Indian Products.” Pinaki invited each Bangladeshi to be “an integral part of this monumental endeavor.” The collective resolve would shatter their bondage, he asserted.
Campaign Snowballed
The campaign has since snowballed and spread like wildfire. The social media is abuzz with the “Boycott India” theme. It even infiltrated the Indian media, markets and administration. S Jaishankar, New Delhi’s External Affairs Minister, tried to underplay the drive by blaming it on Chinese competition. The attempt was what Bengalis say: সাগ দিয়ে মাছ ঢাকা, meaning sidestepping the real issue, which is its controlling stakes through its lackeys in Bangladesh. Today’s public are no fools, thanks to infotech and social media. The type of products India dumps in Bangladesh–cheap garments, cosmetics, media and entertainments products, chemicals, machineries, groceries, even harmful drugs etc.–do not come from China.
Tokyo’s Nikkei Asia reported on January 26, 2024 that “India Out campaign heats up in Bangladesh after a lopsided election.” Accusing India of interference in Bangladesh politics, it said, “the campaign was pushed by the Bangladeshi diaspora and embraced by some opposition circles within the country.” It equated the movement with that of the Maldives, the tiny island country hardly above sea level, 1500 miles south of India, with about half a million people. With an “India Out” campaign last year, the Maldivians elected a new leader, who had already asked for the departure of Indian troops from his country by March 15, 2024. New Delhi blames Beijing for hitting it under its soft underbelly. “If tiny Maldives can do it, why not much superior Bangladesh?” asked Mahmudur Rahman.
Hatred of India became endemic in the Bangladeshi people, only that they cannot express due to various draconian laws and tools in place. Nonetheless, the jubilation of the cricket fans was overtly visible when India was defeated by Australia in the World Cup last year. “This is actually not because of defeat in cricket, but due to severe hatred towards India on many issues,” said former foreign secretary Tauhid Hossain.
Indian FirstPost is skeptical that the campaign may resonate with the broader public in Bangladesh. It thinks that” the future trajectory of this campaign and its impact on diplomatic relations will unfold in the coming months.”
Homegrown Enemy
However, it is felt that tangible results will be difficult to achieve as long as Indian protege Sheikh Hasina remains in authority, said to be supported by some 40,000 local and Indian agents of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). The call of India Boycott, is therefore, supplemented by Resist the Hasina fascism, in other words, fight the homegrown enemy.
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Writer, a freedom fighter in the Bangladesh liberation war in 1971, is a democracy and human right activist, authored five books and co-authored with eminent authors and writers half a dozen more.