File photo of police controlling mob in Dhaka
By Nava Thakuria
The political opponents of the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, have threatened to boycott the forthcoming national election due in January 2024 and pronounced nationwide protest demonstrations and blockades across the South Asian country. The opposition parties are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Hasina, but she has already rejected it outrightly.
The combined opposition parties including the largest Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami claim that Hasina and her party workers will rig the polls in her favour as she is seeking the mandate from nearly 120 million Bangladeshi voters for her consecutive fourth five-year term in office.
The ground situation in Bangladesh remains disturbed and Bangladesh seems heading to turmoil. A daylong agitation in Dhaka by the prime opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), on October 28, 2023, and subsequent blockades by its political allies protesting the alleged high-handedness of the Bangladesh police as well as the ruling Awami League workers, had merged with a series of violent incidents killing a number people. This has made the nation slip into chaos and violence.
Khaleda Zia-led BNP, which boycotted the 2014 general elections but reluctantly participated in 2018 polls, vows to boycott the electoral exercise if PM Hasina does not resign paving the way for a neutral caretaker government in Dhaka.
Hasina, the daughter of ‘Bong Bandhu’ Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (who led the 1971 freedom movement against the Islamic Republic of Pakistan), has already stated that neither she will resign nor the Jatiya Sangsad (Bangladesh Parliament) be dissolved before the January election. She appears determined and disclosed that an election-time government will function during the polls to run the regular affairs without any major policy decisions.
The Election Commission made a public statement that it had no other option except to conduct the election on time as per the guidelines of the Bangladesh Constitution. It revealed that the Constitution specifies that the polls for Jatiya Sangsad (with 300 elected members) must be organised within 90 days before the end of its full term. The three-month count for the current Parliament has just begun on November 1, 2023, and the 12th national election must be conducted and completed by January 29, 2024.
By now political disturbances have attracted the attention of the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who called on all parties in Bangladesh to refrain from violence, any excessive use of force, and arbitrary detention of individuals. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) echoed similar concerns. Seven influential countries (namely the United States of America, United Kingdom, Republic of Korea, Canada, Australia, Japan and Norway) issued a joint statement through their diplomatic missions to condemn the ongoing political violence in Bangladesh following confrontations between the workers of BNP and Awami League from time to time.
Curiously, many political observers and even a section of Bangladeshi media are irked by India’s continued engagement with the Hasina government for various bilateral initiatives, including the enhancement of rail, bus and waterway services as well as cross-border energy trades. Lately, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Hasina virtually inaugurated three major connectivity and energy projects, including a cross-border rail link that connects Agartala with Akhaura. The international rail link will help better connectivity for tourists from both the countries and northeastern traders to use the Chittagong port of Bangladesh in need. The Chief Minister of the Indian state of Tripura, Manik Saha, who was also present on the occasion, commented that the 12.24-kilometre railway line (5.46 km in India and 6.7 km in Bangladesh) would reduce the distance between Agartala and Kolkata from 1,600 km to 500 km only.
Many predict a probable electoral loss for Hasina if the polls are conducted in a “free and fair manner”. But the BNP (if they finally decide to participate in the election) may not emerge as a winner. In such a situation, the Muslim-majority country may go to the hands of military dictators once again. Moreover, the Islamist elements may grab the opportunity to fulfil their long desire to make Bangladesh an Islamic nation with little hope for its return to a Parliamentary democracy. These all may jeopardise bilateral relationships with Dhaka, making significant negative impacts on northeast India. This is a matter of concern for the northeastern people indeed and perhaps explains why India continues to engage the Hasina government at a time when Bangladesh appears heading towards political turmoil.
*Senior Journalist
