A student volunteer controls traffic, in the absence of traffic policemen on a street in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
| Photo Credit: AP

Students carried out traffic management as volunteers for the second consecutive day on Wednesday (August 7, 2024) in Bangladesh, as a top police official called on every member of the police force to resume their duties gradually and maintain law and order.

“Chaos reigned supreme in Bangladesh after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on Monday (August 5, 2024), with police absent from their duty to keep law and order or manage traffic,” local media reports said.

Additional Inspector General of Police (AIG) A. K. M. Shahidur Rahman, who was appointed as the focal person of the Bangladesh Police on Tuesday (August 6, 2024) to handle the current crisis, called on every member of the police force to resume their duties gradually and maintain public safety and law and order.

The students, including members of Bangladesh Scouts, were seen controlling the traffic movement at several places, the Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported. 

“The police are friends of the people and work for the public. We cannot imagine a society without the police. Therefore, I request our police members once again to ignore rumours and return to their duties in a phased manner, ensuring that security arrangements are properly in place,” said Mr. Rahman, who has now been appointed as the Director General of RAB in a fresh reshuffle on Wednesday (August 7, 2024).

“There were reports of attacks on police stations and facilities across the country on Tuesday (August 6, 2024), resulting in numerous police casualties, which have led to this unprecedented situation,” the newspaper said.

The authorities reconstituted the top positions of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) on Wednesday (August 7, 2024). “AKM Shahidur Rahman has been appointed as Director General of RAB while Md Mainul Hasan will replace Habibur Rahman as the commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police,” news portal Prothom Alo said.

The reshuffle comes hours after President Mohammed Shahabuddin appointed Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus as the head of an interim government on Tuesday (August 6, 2024) night.

Attorney General Advocate Abu Mohammad Amin Uddin, who was appointed in October 2020, resigned on Wednesday (August 7, 2024).

Meanwhile, businesses on Wednesday (August 7, 2024) demanded immediate restoration of law and order to ensure the safety of their production units amid incidents of arson attacks on factories over the last two days.

They said they opened factories today, particularly the garment units, but many cannot run properly fearing unrest and vandalism, the Daily Star newspaper reported, citing a press conference by the International Chamber of Commerce, Bangladesh (ICC-B).

“Six top officials of Bangladesh Bank including Deputy Governor Kazi Sayedur Rahman resigned as unrest erupted at Bangladesh Bank on Wednesday (August 7, 2024), the second day after offices reopened,” the Dhaka Tribune reported.

It said that more than a hundred officials of Bangladesh Bank stormed the bank governor’s office, forcing several deputy governors to leave the office claiming the duo was helping the bank looters.

Bodies of at least 29 supporters of Hasina’s Awami League party were recovered across the country through Tuesday (August 6, 2024), taking the overall death toll to 469 in almost three weeks since the protest first started in July over a quota system in government jobs.

Media reports also flagged more and more cases of violence against minorities surfacing through Tuesday (August 6, 2024), prominent among them being the massive vandalism and destruction at popular folk band Joler Gaan’s frontman Rahul Ananda’s residence on Monday (August 7, 2024) prompting the singer and his family to take shelter at a secret place.

The Daily Star quoted Saiful Islam Jarnal, one of Joler Gaan’s founding members who described that the mob after broking the main gate, started ravaging the house taking whatever they could find for themselves – from furniture, mirrors to valuables and then torched the whole house along with Rahul Anand’s over 3,000 musical instruments, which he designed and made over the years.

The visuals from Bangladesh are disturbing, and the anger on the streets is palpable. They are reminiscent of scenes from Colombo just two years ago when the Presidential Palace was ransacked following then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s flight from Sri Lanka.

According to an NDTV report, “On Monday, protesters set fire to a temporary shed at the residence of Bangladesh’s Prime Minister (now former). They also looted and vandalised Sheikh Hasina’s official residence in Dhaka, smashed a statue of her father, Mujibur Rahman, with hammers, and set her party’s offices ablaze as they celebrated her departure as Prime Minister.”

Such visuals have been widely circulated and analysed by commentators in the last two days. I will refrain from commenting on whether Bangladesh is falling into the hands of radical Islamic groups or whether there was foreign involvement in the regime change on Monday.

My focus here is different. I want to explore the range of emotions that an average Indian has towards a country that has largely been a good neighbour. Alongside the term ‘ghuspaithiye‘ (which gained notoriety with the influx of immigrants right after 1947 of migrants from then-undivided Pakistan) and the range of emotions it evokes, there is a mix of empathy, pain, shared legacy, and a common love for Rabindra Sangeet-all experienced in varying degrees and at different times.

The ‘Ghuspaithiye‘ Sentiment

For people living in parts of Assam, Tripura, and the bordering districts of West Bengal and Bihar, the mass migration from then-East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) between 1948 and 1965 significantly impacted local demographics. The influx surged following the disturbances surrounding Bangladesh’s birth in 1971. According to reliable estimates, there are nearly two crore Bangladeshis in India, with half of them settled in Assam and West Bengal alone.

Since then, the term ‘ghuspaithiye‘, or ‘illegal immigrant’, has become ingrained in the Indian psyche, especially in the context of Bangladesh. The attitude towards these immigrants has often been one of contempt, primarily driven by class bias. They are perceived as poor, persecuted, and a drain on scarce resources. Yet, they are not hated, likely due to another powerful sentiment towards Bangladeshis: empathy.

We Played A Role In Their Liberation

This sense of empathy arises from India’s active role in Bangladesh’s liberation from Pakistan after a bloody struggle. The partition of Pakistan was also seen by many Indians as a vindication of the belief that creating a nation-state based on religion was a flawed concept-a belief that had led to the partition of India in 1947. This sentiment has persisted, and occasional anti-India protests in Bangladesh are considered minor deviations from an otherwise well-behaved neighbour and are therefore mostly overlooked.

Pain Across the Border

Growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, my generation was frequently exposed to news about nature’s fury in Bangladesh and its devastating toll. Reports from the November 1970 cyclone, one of the deadliest on record, indicated that nearly 5,00,000 lives were lost in then-East Pakistan. Another cyclone in 1985 killed 11,000 people, and one in 1991 claimed nearly 1,50,000 lives.
These reports of widespread destruction frequently made us sad, and there was a sense of shared pain. Combined with empathy, this constituted a significant portion of the positive feeling we held towards Bangladesh.

They, Too, Love Their Rabindra Sangeet

A strong Bengali identity played a crucial role in East Pakistan’s transition to Bangladesh. Following liberation, Rabindranath Tagore’s Amar Sonar Bangla, penned in 1905, became the new country’s national anthem. Rabindra Sangeet is as popular in West Bengal as it is across the border in Bangladesh. The beautiful Padma River that separates the two geographies has done nothing to diminish this shared legacy.

Since ties between India and Bangladesh have remained warm throughout Bangladesh’s journey, the feelings and emotions described above have persisted. Hence the feeling of loss now as we see the widespread vandalism taking place on the streets of Bangladesh.

As the Indian government considers its stance and options amidst the current turmoil in Bangladesh, it must remain mindful of the shared legacy and common sentiments held by people across the border. It should, therefore, strive to ensure that Bangladesh remains a good neighbour for years to come. Not a tall ask given the long history of bonhomie between the two countries.

(Mayank Mishra is Consulting Editor at NDTV)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

People gather in front of the ransacked Awami League’s central office in the aftermath of the prime minister’s resignation, in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Rights groups and diplomats in Bangladesh on Tuesday raised concerns at reports of attacks on minorities including Hindus, a day after the prime minister was ousted following mass protests.

Some businesses and homes owned by Hindus — a group seen by some in the Muslim-majority nation as having been close to ousted leader Sheikh Hasina — were attacked on Monday, witnesses said.

Police reported mobs launching revenge attacks on Hasina’s allies. Offices of Hasina’s Awami League party were torched and looted across the country, eyewitnesses told AFP.

“Houses and shops of minority people were attacked, vandalised and looted, at least 97 places on Monday and Tuesday,” Rana Dasgupta, general secretary of Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, said in a statement.

The group said at least 10 Hindu temples were attacked by “miscreants” on Monday.

One Hindu man was beaten to death in Bangladesh’s southern Bagerhat district, said a hospital official who requested anonymity due to safety concerns.

“Such attacks on minorities are against the fundamental spirit of the anti-discrimination student movement,” said Transparency International Bangladesh head Iftekharuzzaman, who uses one name.

The United States embassy in Dhaka called for “calm”, in a post on social media platform X.

“We are concerned about reports of attacks on religious minorities and religious sites in Bangladesh,” it said, a message echoed by European Union diplomats.

EU heads of mission “are very concerned about incoming reports of multiple attacks against places of worship and members of religious, ethnic and other minorities in Bangladesh”, EU ambassador to Bangladesh Charles Whiteley posted on X.

“We urgently appeal to all parties to exercise restraint, reject communal violence and uphold the human rights of all Bangladeshis.”

Monday was the deadliest day of unrest since protests erupted in early July, with at least 122 people killed.

Some homes of the Ahmadis, a minority Muslim sect, were also torched by a mob on Monday, a local newspaper reported.

The house of celebrated Hindu musician Rahul Ananda – who last year met French President Emmanuel Macron when he visited Dhaka – was also torched.

Indian foreign minister S. Jaishankar on Tuesday also said New Delhi was “monitoring the situation with regard to the status of minorities”.

He added that the government would “remain deeply concerned till law and order is visibly restored”.

The inherent strength of India-Bangladesh relationship was once again in evidence as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, decided to visit New Delhi days after attending the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The ease with which the top leadership in Delhi and Dhaka now interact and engage each other is a tribute to the manner in which Modi and Hasina have managed to build this important partnership over the last decade, often under very difficult circumstances. If Modi had to contend with the opposition at the state level in West Bengal, where the ruling party decided to veto the Teesta Pact, Hasina had to face the anti-India constituency in Bangladesh. Despite this, both leaders stood firm in their belief that building resilience in this partnership is important for not only bilaterally but also regionally.

“Trusted Friend”

On her first official overseas visit to any country since she returned to power earlier this year in January, Hasina underlined: “India is our major neighbour, trusted friend and regional partner. Bangladesh-India relations are growing at a fast pace.” Modi reciprocated by highlighting the special nature of this visit: “Because she is our first state guest after our government returned to power for the third term.”

Also Read | “Unilateral Discussions…”: Mamata Banerjee To PM On Bangladesh Talks

The visit saw the signing of 10 Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs), which covered areas as diverse as digital and green partnerships, maritime cooperation, and, notably, the ‘Shared Vision for India-Bangladesh Rail Connectivity’. The joint statement outlined a shared bilateral and regional vision for peace, prosperity and development, driven by connectivity, commerce and collaboration. In that spirit, some important new initiatives were announced, including e-visa for patients from Bangladesh, new train and bus services, joint technical committee for Ganga Water Treaty, visit of an Indian technical team to Bangladesh for a mega project to conserve and manage the Teesta river, export of 40 MW of power from Nepal to Bangladesh through Indian grid, and training of Bangladeshi police officers. Building Bangladesh’s defence capability has also emerged as a priority, with the two nations deciding “to explore defence industrial cooperation for modernisation of the Armed Forces of Bangladesh”.

Identifying Opportunities, Counterbalancing China

Hasina will be visiting China in July. It is a sign of a new maturity in India-Bangladesh relations that the two nations continue to work closely together even as they develop their ties with other nations. New Delhi has not stopped Dhaka from its engagement with China but it has some concerns that Hasina has always ensured are addressed. Since 2020, China has been regularly expressing an interest in the $1 billion project to develop the Teesta river. Last year, Beijing submitted a formal proposal.

Also Read | Tripura Chief Minister Gifts 500 Kg Of Queen Pineapples To Bangladesh PM

For Bangladesh, this has been a long-standing priority. The Manmohan Singh government had an agreement in place in 2011, which could not be taken forward due to the opposition from the Chief Minister of West Bengal. For Hasina, the situation had become unsustainable, with the opposition clamouring for a response amidst moves by the Chinese. Her visit before going to China was a wise move to ensure that New Delhi had a chance to respond, and India has done well to respond to the initiative. The decision to send an Indian technical team to Dhaka for talks on the conservation and management of Teesta river is an indication that New Delhi is not willing to cede its strategic space in the neighbourhood despite domestic challenges. The decision to commence technical negotiations for the renewal of the 1996 Ganga Water Treaty is also a timely move to respond to the concerns in Dhaka on an issue that is a priority for the Hasina government.

Rock-Solid Ties

For India, the importance of Bangladesh cannot be overstated as New Delhi seeks to emerge as an Indo-Pacific player with the Bay of Bengal as the regional epicentre. For Bangladesh, a partnership with India remains key to realising its full potential as a critical economic and strategic player in the region. As the two nations become more ambitious in defining their strategic outlooks, their bilateral partnership will continue to be a key enabler in shaping their behaviour.

The China factor, while important, should not be overstated. India-Bangladesh ties today stand on their own merit. Hasina and Modi have ensured that by focusing concrete tangible outcomes for the people of both nations, they have redefined the contours of what an ideal partnership between two neighbours should look like. Mutual respect, mutual interest and mutual sensitivity have made this relationship an exemplar for all others.

[Harsh V Pant is Vice President for Studies and Foreign Policy at ORF.]

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author