A new regime in Dhaka: Let’s reboot India-Bangladesh relations
Every crisis comes twinned with opportunity—not just to solve the proximate problem, but also to effect a paradigm shift, away from the conditions that led to the crisis. So it is with Bangladesh.
The country has a chance to forge a new politics more in tune with its recent economic dynamism, which calls for a political system that enables free thinking, new ways of doing things and decentralized decision-making. That would help the country overcome a legacy of political feuds that drew in successive generations and trapped them in pre-set patterns of irredeemable conduct.
India has legitimate concerns about the ouster of its long-term ally Sheikh Hasina from Bangladesh’s leadership and the possible rise of elements that are not just anti-India and pro-Pakistan, but may also be ready to serve as agents of Chinese interests in the region. The Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamist outfit that makes no bones about its affinity with Pakistan, is capable of fomenting sentiment against India, persecuting minorities and pushing Bangladeshi politics towards sectarian violence and away from democracy.
India has vital security and economic interests that an anti-India government in Dhaka could hurt. However, this does not mean that we should view with hostility any successor to the India-friendly Hasina regime.
Instead, New Delhi’s best bet would be to encourage any nascent political tendency to create a new politics that emphasizes inclusion and democratic accountability. Fortunately, the newly appointed head of an interim administration to govern Bangladesh and conduct fresh elections is Muhammad Yunus, a globally respected figure in developmental economics, committed to openness and inclusion as a matter of ideology and business sense.
. Read more on livemint.com
