From the Partition, which saw India’s division and emergence of West and East Pakistan, to the “liberation” of the latter by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s Awami League to form Bangladesh and a protracted see-saw electoral scenario with Sheikh Hasina and Begum Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) alternatively in the saddle, to the fleeing of Hasina and the formation of a transitional government led by Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh has indeed come a full circle.
The anti-India ethos that had initiated the original break-up, but dissipated during the post-independence phase, has now returned with a vengeance, the nation disowning its adopted secularism and moving towards becoming an Islamic State in emulation of big brother West Pakistan. One ominous development marking this transformation is the triumphant return to political respectability of the Jamaat-e-Islami, the largest Islamist party.
It may be recalled that, accusing it of being a front for terror organisations, including the notorious Islamic State, Hasina had banned the Jamaat in 2013 and cracked down on its leaders. However, apparently, she was unable to totally exterminate the entity, for intelligence reports show that it was one of the many invisible hands guiding the anti-Hasina mass movement led by a platform called Students against Discrimination (SAD). Naturally enough, the transitional government led by Yunus dismissed the executive ban, paving the way for the Jamaat’s reincarnation.
In a related development, last Sunday, the Bangladesh Supreme Court overturned a cancellation of Jamaat-e-Islami’s registration by the High Court in 2013, allowing it to be formally listed as a political party with the Election Commission.
This removes all legal hurdles and facilitates its participation in future elections, particularly in the country’s 13th parliamentary elections, scheduled in the coming months. The reality that the Jamaat-e-Islami has risen like the proverbial Phoenix from its own ashes is bad news for Khaleda Zia, whose BNP had emerged as the main actor in the country’s political arena after Yunus had banned the Awami League.
Little wonder that the BNP in recent days has been trying to distance itself from its long-time ally Jamaat, though the two had been hand in glove in their successful essay at removing Hasina. The re-entry of the Jamaat, a proven radical political entity, the changed political equation as far as its relations with the BNP are concerned, as also the shadowy presence of Awami League supporters out to wreak revenge, portends to make the coming elections violent and potentially volatile. The re-emergence of the Jamaat is an ominous development for India, especially the Northeast, which in the past had been the favourite fishing ground for the former’s subversive operatives! This makes imperative adequate preparations on the security and intelligence fronts, as well as a determined effort to remove declared Bangladeshi aliens from India’s soil.