Eerily close to the fateful date of August 15, 1975, when their father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated along with all his family members in Dhaka, the daughters who survived as they were not there, have now had to flee Bangladesh themselves 49 years later, on August 5, 2024. And once again, the land of my forefathers — where I too was born, in Dhaka just after the 1965 war — is in the throes of violence, hatred, anger and turmoil.
The ‘interim government’ comprising academics and ‘civil society’ installed by the Army chief does not inspire confidence as they have neither the mass support nor the political experience to counter the dark forces that have been gaining ground in Bangladesh. No matter what sweet words the Army chief uses — and indeed Bangla is very conducive to sugar-coated prose — the fact is that the fight to “restore democracy” has done exactly the opposite.
The anti-quota ‘protests’ by students which targeted the Awami League government of Sheikh Hasina were clearly a decoy for amassing vast mobs and ensuring spreading lawlessness that would “force” the Army to oust her and take control. The government was actually on the same side as the students and did not want job quotas for freedom fighters’ families to be extended either: the court opened that closed chapter and triggered an outcry.
The target was her government; the quota issue was clearly an excuse to riot. As a survivor of motivated unrest, Sheikh Hasina should have known that firing on students would incite further violence. So the thought arises whether she had lost control of her own law enforcement agencies, who in turn did their bit to further inflame sentiments by firing straight into crowds, killing hundreds of people. That surreptitious elements were at work there is evident.
Bangladesh was born amid the blood of lakhs of students and teachers ruthlessly slaughtered by ‘razakars’ — Pakistani agents — in the months prior to the 1971 war on the orders of Pakistan’s General Yahya Khan and executed by General Tikka Khan. Sheikh Hasina’s father was the focal point of that maelstrom as he had won the election but the West Pakistani leaders would not let him assume office. The deadlock worsened and led to the liberation war.
Therefore, it is particularly painful that young men, presumably students, possibly swayed by regressive Islamist elements, actually vandalised a statue of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman — the man who brought them freedom — by repeatedly using a hammer to hit his head. The symbolism of that is both painful and scary. Are these men unaware of who he was and what he did? Or are they agents of anti-Mujib forces who now smell blood, quite literally?
The fact that the founder of Bangladesh was assassinated en famille barely three years after he brought them freedom shows that the country is deeply, and perhaps intrinsically, divided. Just like Islam was not enough to keep the two wings of Pakistan together, it is abundantly clear that the Bengali language — a key component of separatist sentiment — has not been enough to keep independent Bangladesh united either. There are contradictory agendas.
News that Taliban flags are being seen alongside the Bangladeshi ones are an ominous sign of what (and who) could be lurking behind the façade of an academic-led interim government. Muslim fundamentalists had got short shrift from Sheikh Hasina for the past 15 years and will obviously aim to cash in on the chaos and the relative inexperience of the stop-gap government. And the students are prime targets for conversion to their extremist goals.
Arguably, given her vast experience, Sheikh Hasina should have realised that pressure was building to uncontrollable levels. Maybe she did. Given that Bangladesh has had a precedent of an interim government, maybe she has retreated in order to stage a recovery and fight her way back to power again. Only age is not in her favour. And the price to be paid for her hanging on to power may be very high indeed — for Awami League and the minorities.
India cannot, in all good faith, remain immune to the plight of the 13 million Hindus in the crosshairs of resurgent Islamists and revenge brigades. If Dhaka is volatile and dangerous, the situation in the hinterland is far, far worse. There are already frantic calls from Hindu Bangladeshis requesting visas to come to India legally; obviously that will not be possible in the midst of all the unrest. So what are the other options available to the Hindu minorities? Pray?
The role of China in fomenting the unrest cannot be discounted, even though it ruthlessly represses Islamic elements within its own borders. With the fall of Hasina, who had cocked a snook by indicating that the Teesta project would go to India, one more of our immediate neighbours has imploded, a situation very beneficial to China. Pakistan, Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka are already in the Sino-sphere; now Bangladesh looks set to finally join them.
With the US preoccupied with a tricky presidential election and complications in Gaza and Ukraine, it leaves the field open for Chinese shenanigans. US President Joe Biden has not had a great record in reining in China, and Chinese supremo Xi Jinping has also been keen to reassert Chinese importance amid a slowing economy. Big ticket Chinese investments in Bangladesh would be welcomed there as the interim government is highly likely to be anti-India.
Democracy is a word and a concept that Islamist elements have often used to their benefit in several countries, even though their own record on that count has been uniformly abysmal. The same playbook is being used in Bangladesh again, with an eye to keeping “useful idiots” in the west (including the media there) on their side. Painting Sheikh Hasina as an autocrat and deposing her with continued protests by impassioned students has been an effective strategy.
In 1975, there was a similar outcry against Sheikh Mujibur Rahman although his assassination was carried out by mid-level army officers and their senior fellow officer Ziaur Rahman eventually took power. Mercifully, this time there was no assassination and Sheikh Hasina was able to fly out of Dhaka safely. It is poignant that Sheikh Hasina is in India again as her nation is aflame as she and her husband lived in New Delhi’s Pandara Park from 1975 to 1981.
Her sister Rehana (who has also reportedly fled with her this time) moved to Britain with her family in 1975. It is rumoured that both sisters will head to the UK, where Tulip Siddiq (Rehana’s daughter) is a member of Parliament and a minister in the Starmer government but there are no guarantees. Meanwhile Bangladesh will continue to be in tumult as Islamists and peaceful coexistence are mutually incompatible. Cry, my beloved birthplace.
The author is a freelance writer. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
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