Bangladesh seeks to counter US charges of 'democratic backsliding'

Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra

Bangladesh foreign secretary Masud Bin Momen will hold consultations with his Indian counterpart Vinay Kwatra before addressing ambassadors of other countries of the Global South in New Delhi as it seeks to counter western charges of "democratic backsliding."

Envoys of countries that are accredited to Bangladesh but don’t have an embassy there will be present at the meeting. Most of them will be from Asia, Africa, Latin America and east Europe.

Some Scandinavian countries are also likely to be present. Invitations have been sent to the US and EU countries, though it is not clear if they will come.

In the second round of consultations between India and Bangladesh this year, Momen and Kwatra will review the progress made on various projects and initiatives over the past months. Momen will apprise his host about the situation in the country since the January 7 elections were announced.

Bangladesh has been under mounting pressure from the US for democratic backsliding. The US has imposed a series of sanctions on the Sheikh Hasina government in Dhaka to ensure free and fair elections.

The US measures have encouraged the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), to hold a series of protest rallies that have often turned violent, demanding Hasina’s resignation.

Resignation demand

It has also led fundamentalist groups such as the Jamaat-e-Islami to stage a comeback in the Bangladeshi political theatre after 10 years and join the anti-Hasina protests. Many senior Jamaat leaders were hanged by the Hasina government for collaborating with Pakistan and indulging in alleged war crimes during the country’s liberation struggle in 1971.

The Jamaat is barred from contesting the elections. But now both the BNP and Jamaat supporters have been out in numbers to demand Hasina’s resignation and a caretaker government to conduct the parliamentary elections. The Awami League government has rejected these demands.

At the meetings in the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi, Momen will try to build a counter-narrative to the US charges. He will tell the envoys about the Hasina government’s achievements in the economic, social and political fields and the stability it has provided to Bangladesh and the region.

The forthcoming elections in Bangladesh are extremely important for India. Hasina who has been in power since 2009, is the most reliable partner of New Delhi in a region fraught with anti-Indian sentiments.

Since 2014, she and her Indian counterpart, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have built a special rapport and the two countries have cooperated in trade and investment, defence and security, and connectivity and healthcare.

The two leaders managed to settle their long-pending land and maritime boundary issues. Hasina also curbed the activities of anti-Indian groups that operated against India’s northeastern region from Bangladesh.

India fears that if the BNP comes to power, anti-Indian elements will once again be encouraged to operate from Bangladeshi territory and cooperation between the two countries will come to a halt.

However, Hasina has also maintained strong ties with China and in the past few years, the Chinese footprint in Bangladesh has increased significantly. China has invested heavily in the country’s infrastructure and become Bangladesh’s biggest defence partner and supplier and major trade partner.

Hasina has so far managed to strike a balance in her relations between the two regional rivals. But in recent months, the US has started taking interest in Bangladesh’s affairs and has been critical of Hasina’s democratic backsliding and growing closeness to China.

Political unrest

The BNP and other opposition parties have accused Hasina of winning past elections by using her muscle power and the US State Department appears to have accepted those charges. The US seems to have ignored how important it was for Hasina to be in power for India’s interests by paving the way for political unrest in Bangladesh to keep her government unsettled.

The issue of Bangladesh elections came up for discussion at the 2+2 meeting between the Indian and US foreign and defence ministers. After the meeting, Kwatra told reporters the elections in Bangladesh were "an internal issue" and it was up to the people of Bangladesh to decide their future and their government.

A few days after India made its position clear, US assistant secretary of state Donald Lu wrote to the BNP, Awami League and other political parties to talk to each other to decide on the coming elections. The BNP and its affiliates have threatened to boycott the elections.

Most senior BNP leaders are in jail for resorting to large-scale violence during their recent protest.

Momen’s decision to hold consultations with Kwatra shows the importance the Hasina government gives to India. But by addressing the ambassadors in New Delhi, the Bangladesh foreign secretary will try to create a diplomatic offensive to counter the US propaganda and attempt to tarnish its image.