It is reported by few local media that thousands of people of Dhaka attended rallies and protest processions against Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming visit to Bangladesh, where some analysts believe a pro-Indian government is in power. To mark the Bangladesh’s founding president Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s birth centenary, Modi confirmed his Bangladesh visit on 17 March 2020 to join the state program. Either for fear or for selective-negligence, most of the local media underplayed the protest event and exercised self-censorship. Besides, western value promoting pro-liberal media houses want to portray the protesters as Islamist.
A group of Islamic political and social organizations arranged the protest under the banner named ‘Like-minded Islamic organizations’. The protest was staged at Baitul Mukarram National Mosque premises and adjacent areas. Protesters have made a call to arrange countrywide protest programs on 12 and 13 March 2020.
According to a local media, the protesters blamed Narendra Modi for recent pogrom and minority-Muslim killing in Delhi and vowed to resist him entering Bangladesh.
The relation between Bangladesh and India has been going smooth, though economically, Bangladesh is aligning with India’s Indo-Pacific rival China under the cover of ‘balancing act’. Geoeconomics apart, there is a prevailing anti-India sentiment among the big population of Bangladesh and the sentiment has been sustaining and spreading throughout the BJP time. It is interesting to see that the relationship between the governments seems improving while the people of both countries are fostering centuries old religious and racial hatred against each-other. And as a regional big-brother and the admirer of US-led Indo-Pacific Strategy, India should take more responsibilities and initiatives to develop people to people relation with its neighbors through innovative approaches.
It is apparent that India under Modi is in imperial mind-set with a limited financial capacity compared to China. Instead of economic propositions and cooperation, it resorts to fear and political conspiracies in order to achieve its regional objectives. Modi’s India is being fueled with anti-Muslim sentiment and anti-Pakistan politics. As a Hindu-majority country, such strategy can solidify BJP’s political power and position inside India but for a nuclear-armed, poverty stricken and semi-literate South Asia, it is dangerous.
Till now, the protests against Modi’s upcoming visit in Bangladesh are non-violent in nature. If external players try to utilize the movement for their short term objectives, it is very likely that the protest can turn violent. And considering the violent nature of the past protest events arranged by the Islamic groups of Bangladesh in different occasions, it can be predicted that Modi’s Dhaka visit may meet strong and bloody resistance from a big quarter of the Muslim Bangladeshis.