BANGLADESH appears headed for national suicide. For, when a country changes the definition of ‘freedom fighter’ and introduces a new definition -- associate of the liberation war -- for no obvious and logical reason, then it sure is charting a path to its own destruction. Bangladesh, thus, appears to be writing its own suicide note. Thanks to the hate-filled regime of the day, the country had already started ill-treating founder of Bangladesh Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Ur Rehman. When the change of regime took place some time ago, the statues of the Bangabandhu were pulled down and every possible public mark in his name was sought to be destroyed. And now has come a fresh blow to history of liberation of Bangladesh. This ugly effort at rewriting of the history of the nation has obvious political overtones -- that would eventually sound death bells for the country.

 

Those who know the truth of the domestic politics of Bangladesh also know that Pakistan has been playing a dirty role in this internal game for quite sometime. Another aspect of this dirty plot is that in this ugly drama is the sly American help to the hooligans who have taken a firm grip on domestic affairs of the country. And to most observers, the active participation of Prof. Mohammad Yunus as the Chief Advisor to the Bangladesh Government in this dark process does not come as surprise. They insist that Prof. Yunus had always been a puppet of foreign masterminds -- no matter the good work he did by way of Grameen Bank that won him a Nobel Prize -- and that he had always positioned himself against Sheikh Mujib Ur Rehman and his family. The developments in Bangladesh in the past some time have been most unfortunate, to say the least. All the good work Bangladesh had achieved in the path of its own progress over time now appears to have been blocked -- so much so that Prof. Yunus even went to the extent of inviting China to lead developmental process in the country.

 

Technically speaking, the ruler of a country can invite any other country to help him/her in developmental initiatives. But when the moves come in the form of what Prof. Yunus did, there are reasons to start smelling rat. It is obvious that forces that are coming together to run Bangladesh would eventually demolish its democratic structure and dominate the discourse in the most negative manner. Unfortunately, the Bangladesh leadership does not see these dangers hidden behind the smoke-screen of people in power with vested -- and even anti-national -- interests. Unfortunately, the current leadership of Bangladesh does not seem to think deeply about the possible damage it is causing to the nation in the longer term. If this continues for some more time, then Bangladesh would surely lose its democracy earlier than anticipated. For India, these signals are terribly negative -- in every which the way. Indian leadership should see these developments as definitively anti-India.

 

Historic ally, it was India that helped Bangladesh achieve its goal of freedom from Pakistan’s military-dominated regime. It invested massively in political and strategic stakes to ensure liberation of Bangladesh from the Pakistani grip way back in early 1970s. Despite some hiccups in bilateral relations, both India and Bangladesh have been able to maintain decent relations, thanks to intermingling of respective national interest. All that good work now appears threatened by the recent developments in Bangladesh. Of course, Indian diplomacy is quite mature and will do its best to avert crisis of democracy building up in Bangladesh. Despite all that optimism, it must be said clearly and firmly that at least for the present, Bangladesh has stepped outside the circle of India’s benevolent influence and may cause itself rather suicidal trouble.