Sheikh Hasina – Brave daughter of a Brave Father and why India needed her

Nirendra Dev *

Sheikh Hasina won't return to Bangladesh politics: son Sajeeb Wazed Joy

The agony and irony associated with the birth of Bangladesh in 1971 in more ways than one surpassed the elements of 1947 when the Indian sub-continent broke up amid bloodshed and Pakistan came into being. Who would have imagined such ruination – physical and moral – that could lead to prove once again that religion and merely taking the name of Islam and Holy Quran alone cannot keep two entities as one?

West Pakistanis were different from Bengalis and thus Pakistan splintered and Bangladesh came into being in 1971.

In this region thus 1971 and the birth of Bangladesh had a more significant impact than any other comparable historical dates and in that too the fallout was wide-ranging. India inherited a perennial problem and the “Bangladeshi immigration” became a political ploy in the northeastern state of Assam – with all elements in the saga – namely violence, insurgency and bloodshed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, Aug 5, chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) minutes after de-throned Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina landed in Delhi. The PM was briefed by concerned authorities on the situation unfolding in Bangladesh.

Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Ms Hasina landed near Delhi at 5:36 pm on Monday quickly after she resigned and flew out of the country along with her sister amid massive anti-government protests. Modi's trusted lieutenant National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval met her at the Hindon airbase near Delhi.

Her departure from Bangladesh caps her 15-year rule and comes weeks after student protests left around 300 dead. Union home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh, external affairs minister S Jaishankar, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba, principal secretary to PM PK Mishra, Research and Analysis Wing chief Ravi Sinha and Intelligence Bureau director Tapan Deka were present at the key meeting.

"The country is going through a revolutionary period," said Bangladesh army chief Gen Wakeruz Zaman, 58, who had taken over as army chief only on June 23. Bangladesh's army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman said an interim government would take charge. "We will investigate all the killings and punish the responsible," he said at a press conference.

The development has created a diplomatic and strategic challenge for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government -- which was considered pro-Sheikh Hasina for a long. Hasina is the longest-serving leader in the history of the predominantly Muslim country.

"The greatest challenge for Modi 3.0 is not creating jobs, getting investments, aiming for a $5-10 trillion economy. It is to protect, defend and insulate India from the storms raging in the region and the world," said renowned security analyst Sushant Sareen.

He wrote: "If he (Modi) manages to do that, the economy will thrive. But if we are dragged in (and there will be efforts and pressure to drag us in) or if we disturb our own equilibrium then we neither get an economy nor stability. We need wisdom and need to pipe down to build our strength rather than stupidly and prematurely declare that we are a global power".

He cautioned: "Meanwhile brace yourselves for a roller coaster ride next few years. Choose your enemies carefully and choose your friends even more carefully. Remember enemies don’t stab you in the back, ‘friends’ do".

"The arrogance and isolation of power prevents leaders from having an ear to the ground, and losing the feel of the ground, unable to read the pulse of people. And then when the ground shakes everyone wakes up. Needless to say everyone is wiser after shit hits the fan", he added.

In 2016 a comment from Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had generated minor debate and there were reactions even from across the border in Pakistan.

In her first reaction to the Dhaka holocaust of July 2016, she had wondered how in the holy month of Ramadan, the Muslims could kill people in the name of Islamic values. The bottomline was the 'game' had just begun and it would gradually assume an alarming dimension.

Eight years down the line, Hasina is ousted and now taking shelter in India. PM Modi and his government had banked heavily on Sheikh Hasina from a strategic point of view. The Hasina government had cooperated with the Manmohan Singh government to get ULFA chairman Arvind Rajkhowa arrested and brought to India.

Analysts say fundamentalism is showing an ugly face in South Asia and there will be challenges for India too. In 2023 cases of beheading in Rajasthan had triggered a bigger debate on whether external agencies are working in the subcontinent as well.

A Pakistani thinker Mobarak Haider wrote acidly on Facebook in 2016 --- "The long arm of ISIS has touched Bangladesh after Turkey. Can we understand ISIS and Al-Qaeda or Taliban and Boko Haram as separate entities?

The Border Security Force (BSF) has issued a high alert as India shares a long border with Bangladesh. Former Foreign Secretary and ex-Ambassador to Bangladesh, Harsh Vardhan Shringla, says that the Opposition BNP and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami had joined the agitation and had put violence in the protest. "You cannot rule out the fact that certain interests have been fishing in troubled waters".

From ousting a military dictator to fleeing Bangladesh — Sheikh Hasina’s 15 years in power . Her 15 consecutive years in power are marked by an economic rebirth but also by opponents' mass arrests.

It is paradoxical to note that the unexpected development in Bangladesh serves as a stark reminder that economic progress alone cannot sustain a leader’s popularity. Hasina’s tenure was marked by noteworthy economic achievements. Bangladesh transformed from one of the world’s poorest nations into one of the fastest-growing economies in the region.

The country’s per capita income tripled in a decade, and the World Bank estimates that over 25 million people were lifted out of poverty in the last 20 years.

But in the end Hasina’s government had to step aside and the leader herself had to flee.