For a country which played a pivotal role in helping Bangladesh earn its independence, India’s recent belligerence and penchant for misinformation when it comes to our nation has been at once baffling and concerning.
While the recent detention of activist Chinmoy Krishna Das deserves to be questioned, any scrutiny should be confined as an internal matter for Bangladeshis. The Indian government’s “deep concern” over this incident clearly crosses that boundary, which it has been doing ever since the fall of the previous Awami League government earlier in August.
It is clear that any such concern on the part of India is nothing more than performative outrage carried out for the sake of optics. Indeed, the lack of any tact in their message is telling, given the misinformation being bandied about by Indian media and politicians, which claim that the lawyer Saiful Islam Alif -- who was brutally slain in Chittagong -- was representing Chinmoy Krishna Das. This is demonstrably false, and it is good to see the Chief Adviser's Press Wing call out the Indian media for this blatant attempt at distorting the truth.
More troubling is the fact that India has chosen to highlight what is clearly an internal Bangladeshi matter at a time when their own country witnessed six confirmed deaths in an act of sectarian violence against their own Muslim community in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. At best this is hypocrisy, at worst this is a willful attempt at distracting local and international attention away from a genuine massacre.
No matter which it is, this is unacceptable conduct from a country that we have always considered one of our closest regional partners.
Whether or not the sedition case against Chinmoy Krishna Das has any legitimacy is indeed a question that deserves to be asked. From the outset, perhaps it was not the most cogent decision on the part of our law enforcement. However, what is abundantly clear is that such questions are for Bangladesh and Bangladeshis to ask.
The opinions of India, or any other country for that matter, are at best beside the point, at worst, tendentious and inflammatoryWhile the recent detention of activist Chinmoy Krishna Das deserves to be questioned, any scrutiny should be confined as an internal matter for Bangladeshis. The Indian government’s “deep concern” over this incident clearly crosses that boundary, which it has been doing ever since the fall of the previous Awami League government earlier in August.
It is clear that any such concern on the part of India is nothing more than performative outrage carried out for the sake of optics. Indeed, the lack of any tact in their message is telling, given the misinformation being bandied about by Indian media and politicians, which claim that the lawyer Saiful Islam Alif -- who was brutally slain in Chittagong -- was representing Chinmoy Krishna Das. This is demonstrably false, and it is good to see the Chief Adviser's Press Wing call out the Indian media for this blatant attempt at distorting the truth.
More troubling is the fact that India has chosen to highlight what is clearly an internal Bangladeshi matter at a time when their own country witnessed six confirmed deaths in an act of sectarian violence against their own Muslim community in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. At best this is hypocrisy, at worst this is a willful attempt at distracting local and international attention away from a genuine massacre.
No matter which it is, this is unacceptable conduct from a country that we have always considered one of our closest regional partners.
Whether or not the sedition case against Chinmoy Krishna Das has any legitimacy is indeed a question that deserves to be asked. From the outset, perhaps it was not the most cogent decision on the part of our law enforcement. However, what is abundantly clear is that such questions are for Bangladesh and Bangladeshis to ask.
Would India tolerate Bangladesh making such statements about Indian internal matters? To ask the question is to answer it.
