India shouldn’t let bilateral ties with Bangladesh become hostage to domestic politics

Time to evaluate and reflect on India's relations with Bangladesh.

As Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri lands in Dhaka today for consultations with Bangladesh’s Mohammed Yunus-led interim government, it’s time to assess and introspect how badly India’s external relations has become a prisoner of domestic politics and power play.

Misri’s visit comes against the backdrop of Bharatiya Janata Party-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s no-holds-barred advocacy – with the full backing of the Indian Government – of Hindus in Bangladesh following monk Chinmoy Krishna Das’ arrest on sedition charges and denial of bail, with the sole objective of reaping political and electoral dividends in West Bengal where the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress has so far proved to be more than a match for Hindutva forces.

Four months ago, BJP leaders in Bengal were proclaiming from roof tops that the civil disobedience movement unleashed by the rape-murder of a woman doctor in R. G. Kar Hospital in the heart of Kolkata was bound to evict Mamata from power. But Bengal’s ruling party handled pretty well what was essentially a localized, urban middle class uprising -- and not a statewide mass movement capable of bringing down the government. Not surprisingly, the Trinamool Congress got away with it -- winning handsomely the by-elections for all the six assembly seats held last month -- shattering the BJP’s high hopes.

The upshot is that the Trinamool Congress is more entrenched than ever before and the BJP is more demoralized and in disarray than it was earlier, in sharp contrast to the party’s upbeat mood in many other states.

Using Bangladesh to put Mamata on the back-foot

In such a scenario of doom and gloom, the BJP suddenly espied a new opportunity in the alleged targeting of Hindus in neighbouring Bangladesh to reverse its irretrievably sliding fortunes in Mamata land.

For the crest-fallen BJP, the developments next door -- amplified and hyped by India’s electronic and print media drawing valid accusations of misinformation and disinformation by Dhaka -- is like manna from heaven after the drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections when its tally plummeted from 18 to 12, followed by the rout in as many as 10 successive by-polls for assembly seats since the general elections, including the crushing defeat by record margins in half a dozen seats in November.

Currently, the BJP is running a divisive and polarizing campaign to somehow win over Hindus comprising more than 70 percent of West Bengal’s population -- who keep rebuffing the saffron party and embracing the Trinamool Congress -- by citing the “fate” of Hindus in Bangladesh at present. The border state is a virtual tinderbox with a 70:27 percent Hindu-Muslim mix; the rest are mainly Christians.

If the BJP’s provocative propaganda pitting Bengal’s major religions against each other hasn’t yet managed to rupture peace and amity, it’s a tribute to the maturity of Hindus and Muslims residing in the state, not to speak of the administration’s neutrality and notably, the men in uniform upholding the IPC and CrPC as their Bible, Quran and Gita.

At multiple protests and demonstrations held across West Bengal to express solidarity with “persecuted” Hindus in Bangladesh, the BJP is publicly lamenting that the state’s Hindus are not united. In the words of Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of opposition and Hindutva’s most recognizable face, Bengal’s Hindus must learn a lesson from other states “like Uttar Pradesh where Hindus have united under Yogi Adityanath, Haryana where there is no division among Hindus, and Maharashtra, the land of Chhatrapati Shivaji, where all Hindus are one as demonstrated in the assembly elections”.

Fallcious parallels to serve a domestic political agenda

Drawing fallacious parallels to brainwash the gullible, Adhikari and other BJP leaders are exhorting Bengal’s Hindus to stand together if they don’t want to suffer the “atrocities” Bangladeshi Hindus are being subjected to, whereas the reality is that Hindus are in a commanding majority in Bengal and independently decide what is best for them.

Regrettably, the BJP’s call to hospitals, hotels, restaurants and shops to boycott Bangladeshis has had some takers which is inimical to West Bengal’s interests. As it is, New Delhi shut down visa centers in Bangladesh during the massive unrest after Sheikh Hasina fled and took refuge in India. We have restarted issuing visas only on a limited scale; hence the flow of Bangladeshis isn’t picking up. Moreover, Bangladeshis find repeated criticism by our Ministry of External Affairs of what’s happening in their country rather intimidating. So, they are avoiding travelling to India, which is clearly not in the interests of Bengal.

Economic linkages with India, particularly Kolkata

We love to take pride in the number of medical tourists flocking to India. But did you know that more patients come to India from Bangladesh than any other country? In 2022, among 474,000 foreigners who visited India for medical treatment, a whopping 68.9 percent were Bangladeshis! The rest were from Iraq, Yemen, Oman, Maldives, Sudan, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Myanmar.

Importantly, the vast majority of Bangladeshi patients flock to Kolkata where they feel at home because of linguistic and cultural similarities. If Kolkata’s commercial establishments were to shun them in accordance with the BJP’s wishes, hospitals, hotels, restaurants and shops from E. M. Bypass to Free School Street dependent on Bangladeshi clientele would sustain such financial losses that their managements' would have no option but to cut jobs. I doubt very much whether Bengalis will ever accept layoffs to further the BJP’s or New Delhi’s agenda.