The continuing meltdown in India’s political, foreign policy, media, and intellectual establishments three weeks into the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government is truly a sight to behold.
If they don’t mind me pointing out the obvious, I would have to observe that they are taking this a lot worse than I thought they would.
In fact, I hope I will be forgiven for the observation that India seems to be taking the fall of the Hasina government almost as badly as Pakistan took Bangladesh achieving independence in 1971.
The violence of their response may indeed indicate something a little bit revelatory about how India viewed Bangladesh these last 15 years, and, honestly, the extent of the beating of breasts, rending of garments, gnashing of teeth, and chewing of furniture could scarcely have been greater had a part of India’s actual territory fallen.
Such was the sense of ownership over the Sheikh Hasina regime and the vice-regal confidence with which India viewed its operations in Bangladesh that to see it all come crumbling down in a matter of a few short days must have been a shock. It is clear that the Indian establishment is still very far from getting over it.
I should, at this point, hasten to clarify that it is not all Indians. There have been many fair-minded and heterodox voices within the Indian media and even political firmament who have broken ranks with the consensus chorus of dismay, and both cautiously welcomed the fall of an autocrat and been willing to introspect as to what the lessons might be for India.
But these voices have been few and far between, a tiny drop in comparison to the massive tide of recrimination and disinformation that has flowed steadily throughout the Indian national consciousness and continues largely unabated till today.
The recrimination is perhaps more understandable. The ouster of a leader and a regime that they felt they had in their pocket must have come as a serious shock to the system, and indeed the fact that the Hasina regime could unravel so rapidly and so completely came as a shock to those of us inside the country too.
No one likes to lose a friend, and Hasina was the best friend India ever had. She reigned courtesy of India’s steadfast support which insulated her from the consequences of her misrule, and the fact that her ouster leaves India’s Bangladesh policy in ruins, with no clear sense of how to right things, is obviously hard to take.
Equally difficult must be coming to terms with the massive intelligence failure that resulted in such a reversal. If the events of the past month have laid bare the utter poverty of India’s Bangladesh policy, it is no less of an indictment of their on-the-ground intelligence. How the men at the top still have a job, I don’t know.
But while the above may be to some extent understandable and even excusable, what is inexcusable are the torrents of misinformation and disinformation that have been gushing forth from Indian media and social media channels and amplified by politicians, that have completely distorted the Indian understanding of what is happening in Bangladesh. None of this is conducive to the rebuilding of the bilateral relationship along workable terms that both sides need.
No one likes to lose a friend, and Hasina was the best friend India ever had
Most of the rhetoric coming out of India paints Bangladesh as a hotbed of militancy and the student-led people’s movement to oust Hasina as an Islamic revolution, neither of which is anywhere close to the truth. Nor are Hindus under sustained attack in this post-Hasina Bangladesh, though Indian media and social media is painting the interim administration of Dr Muhammad Yunus as the second coming of Aurangzeb.
Most galling of all is the insulting imputation that Bangladesh remains under the sway of Pakistan and its infamous ISI. I mean, really? The 2000s called and want their understanding of geo-strategic realities back.
Let me break something down for my friends across the border: Bangladesh is now a bigger country than Pakistan. Our economy is larger than Pakistan’s in absolute terms even though they have 80 million more people. In terms of GDP per capita, Pakistan is fully 30 percent lower than Bangladesh.
Have you been to the Pakistan high commission in Dhaka in recent years? Trust me when I tell you that it is a sad, sad scene. The notion that it is the site of plotting and planning behind high walls is laughable. Our own DGFI are in a better position to influence events in Pakistan than the ISI are to do so in Bangladesh. Indian apprehensions in this connection could not be further from the mark.
What next? Is Bangladesh under the sway of the nefarious Maldives National Defense Force perchance? Are we in the pocket of the sultanate of Brunei? A little respect, please.
My advice to my Indian friends would be to listen more and say less. Listen to Bangladeshis. Do not get your information about Bangladesh from Indian sources who are either themselves misinformed about Bangladesh or trying mightily to misinform you, or both. Engage with Bangladesh with an open mind and jettison your preconceived narratives and notions about the country.
My advice to anyone else outside the country would be similar: get your news about Bangladesh from Bangladeshis and not from third parties, especially Indian voices that clearly have a stake in the failure of the Monsoon Revolution.
Don’t fall for the agitprop being churned out by the Indian troll farms and amplified by their establishment media. Take the time to search out the truth about Bangladesh today, and you will be surprised and inspired by what you learn.
There is a great story unfolding in Bangladesh today. It is by no means certain to succeed and the situation in the country remains balanced on a knife edge. Is the situation in Bangladesh perfect? Far from it. But is it an improvement over what we suffered for the past decade? Absolutely. Is there disheartening and dismaying news when it comes to law and order and rule of law. Undoubtedly.
But the good news in Bangladesh today far outweighs the bad, and it is so important that those outside the country understand the enormity of what is happening in Bangladesh and just how remarkable these last few weeks have been.
Zafar Sobhan is Editor, Dhaka Tribune.
