Bangladesh: History Repeats Itself – OpEd

Historians acknowledge that history doesn’t quite repeat itself. But it has, in Bangladesh!

The repetition lies in the wholesale expropriation, and subsequent misappropriation, of the fruits of the 1947 independence by the Muslim League (ML) and of the 1971 liberation by the Awami League (AL).

The ML’s rapaciousness is brilliantly catalogued by the legendary journalist-politician Abul Mansur Ahmed in his majestic Aamar Dekha Rajnitir Panchash Bachar (Fifty Years of Politics As I Saw It), 2016.

With a masterly lack of foresight and promiscuously mixing religion with politics, the leadership of the ML, willfully ignoring its changed status after partition, equated opposition to the ML as anti-Pakistani and anti-Islam (243-245). The result was 1971.

The post-1971 AL flattered the ML by emulating it. Ignoring facts and common sense, the AL arrogantly claimed to be the sole standard-bearer of liberation. It deliberately fostered an unbridgeable chasm between a coterie of some genuine but largely manufactured “freedom fighters” (uspar) and “collaborators” (espar).

The former were mainly veterans but also carpetbagger ALers and benefited immensely from state patronage. The latter were hounded relentlessly over the years under the catch-all slogan of “Razakars” (Enayetullah Khan, Sixty Million Collaborators, The Weekly Holiday, 6 February 1972). Bangabandhu and his daughter Hasina avidly pursued this vengeful strategy. They and the country have paid heavily. Their falls illustrate the ancient proverb: Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad.

The repetition of history continues with a twist. After 25 March 1971, many ALers fled to India to save their lives and formed part of the resistance against Islamabad. From July 2024, many ALers and their hangers-on have fled, not to India, but for Singapore, Malaysia and other lucrative places. These discredited refugees can’t mount any worthwhile resistance and should consider themselves lucky to live comfortably on their illegally repatriated capital.

Some ALers have sought shelter in India. Chief amongst them is Hasina and Rehana. As of now, the UK has refused them asylum. Indians will find their continued stay, unlike in 1975, as embarrassing and controversial. You reap what you sow.

Which brings us to Indo-Bangladesh relations. In 1971, Delhi helped us for mutual benefit to defeat the Pakistanis. This gave Delhi bragging rights but not rights of proprietorship. Dhaka- Delhi relations since 1971 have seen an unrelenting denudation of Bangladesh’s sovereignty, to the point that that Dhaka is perceived as Delhi’s suzerain. This is demonstrated in Hasina’s unduly deferential collaboration with Delhi lasting many years.

Since 1947, Dhaka has been the victim of two colonial regimes. From 1947-1971, Islamabad ruled through ISI. From 1971- 2024, Delhi ruled through RAW. ISI and RAW bribed and threatened willing and unwilling Bangladeshis to suborn, subdue and subvert Bengali aspirations. They succeeded, up to a point. The point being that quislings don't last forever.

After 1971, numerous books extolled BD’s emergence as RAW’s finest hour (Raman, The Kaoboys of RAW, 2019). Hasina’s flight to India is a black eye for RAW. The ISI was clueless about Bengali public opinion. RAW seems to suffer from the same malady. These two intelligence agencies share a degree of ineptness when it comes to managing Dhaka through collaborators. Like cuckolds, intelligence agencies often are the last to know. Dhaka should prepare to stiffen its backbone against the indubitable forthcoming onslaught from RAW to redeem, if nothing else, its tarnishedreputation.

Hopefully, the above demeaning Dhaka-Delhi relationship will undergo a material reset, epitomized by a less groveling leadership in DAC and a more chastened one in DEL. It’s astonishing that India has antagonized all her neighbors successfully and consecutively for so long. South Block’s subcontinental diplomacy fascinates for its inaptness and misplaced stamina.