India’s Controversial Role in Bangladesh Election: ‘I am Sheikh Hasina’s Candidate, That is India’s Candidate’
As the election season approaches in Bangladesh, the role of one of its neighbors has begun to be debated. The country whose direct or indirect role is most talked about is none other than India.
During the election campaigns of various political parties of Bangladesh, the ‘India factor’ is mentioned here and there. Similarly, there is a lot of speculation about what India wants in Bangladesh elections.
This election is not an exception. A senior leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has openly alleged that Delhi has actually taken away the destiny of the citizens of Bangladesh.
A large number of people in Bangladesh believe that the way Sheikh Hasina’s government has been in power for 15 consecutive years despite twice holding disputed parliamentary elections, it is in any case without the active support and cooperation of India. It was not possible.
On the other hand, leaders and ministers of the ruling party or coalition have often been seen and heard praising him for his direct support to powerful neighboring India.
A candidate and former Member of Parliament recently threatened a government official saying, “Remember that I am Sheikh Hasina’s candidate, that is India’s candidate.”
After the audio clip of their telephone conversation was leaked and went viral, the debate has intensified. There are many such examples.
However, India has never officially admitted that it played a role or interfered in the elections of neighboring Bangladesh.
India’s officially declared policy has been that only the citizens of Bangladesh have the right to decide the democratic future of Bangladesh.
But in informal talks in Delhi, government officials, diplomats and analysts agree that all countries in the world want a friendly government in their neighborhood and India is no exception.
India also wants a government in Bangladesh that is easy to work with and has normal contacts.
But there is little speculation in Bangladesh about the extent to which Delhi is eager to see a friendly government in power in Dhaka.
Many Bangladeshi diplomats and observers believe that Delhi’s activism is somewhat public but mostly behind the scenes.
In this report we have discussed India’s alleged role in the 2008, 2014 and 2019 Bangladesh parliamentary elections.
Let’s see what was the attitude of India in these elections, what statements did it make and how did it react after the election results?
December 29, 2008
It was the least controversial of the last three parliamentary elections in Bangladesh. BNP won 30 seats in this election.
After that, he made allegations of rigging in the election process, but his allegations were not heeded.
That election in Bangladesh was held under the supervision of a caretaker government backed by the military. She came to power through ‘One Eleven’ and was running the country for two years before the elections.
But at that time, the two major parties of the country, Awami League and BNP respectively, did not reduce their efforts to remove the two leading leaders of Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia from active politics.
However, later both the parties contested the election under his leadership.
Former President of India Pranab Mukherjee has claimed in his autobiography that he himself played an important role in getting these two women leaders released from jail and returning to politics.
At that time, Manmohan Singh led the Congress government in India and Pranab Mukherjee was the foreign minister.
Exactly ten months before this election in Bangladesh, Army Chief General Moin Ahmed came on an official visit to India. He also met Pranab Mukherjee during his six-day visit.
Pranab Mukherjee has written in his book ‘The Coalition Years’ that ‘I requested the Army Chief of Bangladesh to release all the political prisoners from jail during the Hasina and Khaleda era. The general was afraid that Sheikh Hasina would come out of jail and fire him.
He wrote that ‘I assured him that even if Sheikh Hasina comes to power, his job will be restored. I also arranged a meeting with the US President and requested his intervention in the release of political prisoners.
Hasina’s ‘Uncle Babu’ Pranab Mukherjee made what confessions in his book?
Former Indian President Pranab Mukherjee has admitted in his book that India played an active role in the 2008 parliamentary elections against Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia.
He had very close personal and family relations with Sheikh Hasina’s family. Hasina used to call Pranab Mukherjee as ‘Uncle Babu’.
Pranab Mukherjee’s book indicates that it was because of this closeness that he assured General Moin Ahmed that Sheikh Hasina would not fire him.
India also wanted that the BNP should not come back to power in the 2008 elections under any circumstances.
Veena Sikri was India’s long-time High Commissioner in Dhaka during Khaleda Zia’s second term (2001-2006).
Veena Sikri said that it is not hidden from anyone that at that time the mutual relations between Delhi and Dhaka had reached a low level. Bilateral trade, traffic and cooperation had come to a standstill. India’s northeastern militant outfits were receiving direct support. The Delhi government was in favor of changing this situation soon.
But Veena Sikri also points out that India did not have to do anything to remove the BNP from power. This is because the Awami League came to power by winning more than three-quarters of the seats at that time due to the strong support of the people of Bangladesh.
The statement issued by the Government of India welcoming Sheikh Hasina the day after she came to power (December 30) is also commendable.
In a statement issued by Pranab Mukherjee’s ministry, India congratulates the people of Bangladesh for the way in which a very close and friendly neighbor has achieved multi-party democracy through free, fair and peaceful elections. Recovery has taken place.
This historic victory of the Awami League and the Grand Alliance under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina is an important milestone in the democratic politics of the entire South Asia.
Large number of voters participation and fair conduct of election process is actually a great victory of democracy. The people of Bangladesh have once again expressed their faith in the democratic tradition and given a unanimous verdict in favor of development and progress.
The statement also pledged to work with the newly elected Sheikh Hasina government of Bangladesh.
Many observers believe that even today Delhi is following this resolution.
January 5, 2014
The biggest controversy and debate was on India’s alleged interference in this election of Bangladesh. The reason for this was the controversial visit of the then top diplomat of India to Dhaka just a month before the elections.
India’s then Foreign Secretary Sujata Singh arrived in Dhaka on December 4, 2013, on a 24-hour visit.
Meanwhile, he held separate meetings with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Opposition Leader Khaleda Zia and National Assembly Chairman General Hussain Muhammad Irshad.
Sujata Singh also held talks with then Bangladesh Foreign Minister Mahmood Ali and Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haq.
Apart from this, he also interacted with the editors of the first line media houses of Bangladesh.
Even before the visit of the Indian Foreign Secretary, the main opposition party BNP had announced not to participate in the elections. The Jatiya Party had also asked to stay away from the elections.
At that time, it was reported in the newspapers of India and Bangladesh that Sujata Singh had met General Irshad only to pressurize the Jatiya Party to participate in the elections and make the elections acceptable.
The Jatiya Party chief himself had given a similar signal. Although initially unprepared, General Irshad was later forced to contest the elections under pressure from the government and played the role of a national opposition party in the absence of the BNP.
Speaking to reporters in Dhaka on 5 December 2013, Sujata Singh claimed that the role of the opposition party is very important in any democracy and her meeting with Khaleda Zia and General Irshad along with the major political parties of Bangladesh and India. It was the first meeting. This is part of the ongoing negotiation process.
Indian Foreign Secretary’s Comment
The then Ambassador of India to Bangladesh Pankaj Sharan was also present in this press conference.
“I have emphasized during our meetings that India is in favor of a stable, peaceful and progressive Bangladesh and attaches importance to the successful conduct of the democratic process,” Foreign Secretary Sujata Singh said.
Commenting on the Indian Foreign Secretary’s comments in the media in Dhaka, it was said that India is making active efforts to ensure inclusiveness in the elections in Bangladesh.
Smriti Patnaik, a senior fellow at a prominent think tank in New Delhi and an expert on Bangladesh affairs, believes that Sujata Singh’s visit was misinterpreted in the media.
“It’s true that many saw his efforts as interference,” he told the BBC. But in my opinion, the main objective of the Indian Foreign Secretary was to save neighboring Bangladesh from a constitutional crisis.
According to Dr. Smriti Patnaik, India had taken this step thinking that any election without opposition parties would not be accepted at the international level and would create a crisis for Bangladesh as well as for India. Not appropriate.’
In the elections held without the BNP, the voter turnout was around 40 percent and the Awami League won 234 seats.
India believed that despite BNP’s non-participation, there would be no problem in recognizing the election of Bangladesh due to the presence of the Jatiya Party in the electoral arena and a reasonable voting percentage.
In a statement on the day of the election, Syed Akbaruddin, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of India, said that the January 5 election in Bangladesh is a constitutional requirement, violence can never be the way forward. The democratic trend in Bangladesh needs to take its course.
Exactly a week later, Sheikh Hasina was once again sworn in as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh. Among the world leaders who were the first to congratulate him was Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Manmohan Singh congratulated Hasina over the phone on the evening of January 12 and said, “I wish the common people of your country success in their efforts to strengthen the democratic institutions of Bangladesh.”
December 30, 2018
India was a few months away from the 2018 Bangladesh elections. Now the reason for this is either because India did this after learning from its experience of five years ago or for some other reason.
There was a popular perception that India was not very dynamic.
Just ten days before the elections on December 20, 2018, India’s Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in his weekly briefing that ‘Bangladesh elections are entirely an internal matter. Bangladesh is not only our close neighbor and strong ally, but also a close neighbour. There is a vibrant democracy. We respect this democracy in Bangladesh.
But the decision of BNP to participate in this election of Bangladesh was being called as the main reason for India’s ‘apparent neutrality’.
At that time, BNP had decided to contest the elections in alliance with some other like-minded parties. Along with this, many anti-BJP parties in India were preparing to fight the next elections by forming alliances. It was called the Grand Alliance.
The former Indian ambassador posted in Dhaka, Pink Ranjan Chakraborty, while talking to the BBC, said that “All parties are participating in this election of Bangladesh, so India does not need to worry about it.”
The big change that has happened in Bangladesh is that the unity of the opposition has emerged on the pattern of the great unity formed in India. If everything continues like this, we have to admit that this year will be very different from 2014.
Prior to this election, no Indian foreign secretary or any senior diplomat or official had publicly visited Dhaka. However, on the invitation of the National Election Commission of Bangladesh, a large team of Indian government officials visited there (December 28-31, 2018) and monitored the entire election process.
About a month and a half before the elections, a report said that ‘most political observers in Bangladesh believe that India’s neutrality in the Bangladesh elections may also be due to a change in its strategy.’
Allegations of election rigging and corruption
It was no secret in Delhi that despite popular efforts to keep distance from the elections, India’s direct support was only for Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League.
On December 30, the issue became more clear after allegations of massive election rigging and corruption surfaced. It was revealed that votes were cast in favor of the ruling party at midnight even before polling started at many places. The BBC also posted a video of the rigging.
The opposition party BNP had boycotted the midnight voting and withdrew from the field on the election day itself.
After the counting of votes started here, it became clear at midnight that the Awami League and the Grand Alliance were once again returning to power with a huge majority. Awami League along with National Party and other allies won 293 seats out of 300.
But India did not comment on election rigging. The team of observers from India who were in Bangladesh at that time also did not mention it in their report.
Sheikh Hasina’s leadership
But on the morning of December 31, due to the delay in receiving Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call from Delhi, there was slight anxiety in Dhaka. Finally at around 11 am PM Modi called Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and congratulated her. After which it was reported that the two leaders had a friendly conversation for some time.
Narendra Modi hoped that Awami League’s decisive victory and Sheikh Hasina’s visionary leadership would take India-Bangladesh relations further. Modi was the first among world leaders to call Hasina. That is why Hasina Wajid expressed her gratitude to him.
“Prime Minister Modi has reiterated that our neighbors are close partners in regional development and security,” said a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs in Delhi later.
Until then, Sheikh Hasina had not received any congratulatory call from India’s main opposition party, the Congress. Sheikh Hasina also has close and family ties with this party and its leadership. In fact, Congress President Rahul Gandhi was vacationing abroad at that time.
The then Ambassador of Bangladesh to India, Syed Moazzam Ali, called Anand Sharma, the leader of the Congress in Parliament, on his mobile and requested that the Prime Minister also be called, but no message was received from the Congress. Anand Sharma then immediately sought out Rahul Gandhi and arranged for a statement to be issued on behalf of the party.
Congress said in its statement that “Sheikh Hasina’s victory in Bangladesh is actually a victory for democracy.”
It has been proved once again that India’s support for Sheikh Hasina and Awami League is not limited to any particular party.