AS Bangladesh erupted in euphoria over the triumph of the Gen Z revolution-as it has become known thanks to the protest: movement led by young students and tweens-the Indian establishment watched the events that dismantled Sheikh Hasina's 15-year-long regime with extreme caution.
Alongside ordinary citizens from all walks of life, the protestors included members from the Jamaat-e-Islami (Jel) Bangladesh, the largest Islamist political party and its student wing the Islamist Chhatra Shibir (ICS). Shafiq ur Rehman, 65, chief of the Jel, was hailed on social media as the man behind the resistance movement. Known for its anti-India politics, allegiance to Pakistan, alleged links to jihadi terror groups and immense street power to cause violence, the involvement of Jel has given rise to the suspicion in India that the revolutions were backed by the Islamist party.
In 2011, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh vocalised the widely perceived threat from the JeI in an off-the-record conversation with journalists. The usually reticent Singh reportedly minced no words in his remarks, claiming that at least 25 per cent of Bangladesh's population, which follows the Jel or the Jamaat as it is also known, was very anti-Indian and the Islamist organisation was in the clutches of Pakistan's ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence). "The political landscape in Bangladesh can change at any time. We do not know what these terrorist elements, who have a hold on the Jel in Bangladesh, can be up to," Singh was quoted as saying at the time.
As that dreaded moment of reckoning arrived on August 6, leading to the regime change in Bangladesh, many in India's security and military establishment feared Singh's prophetic remarks becoming the neighbourhood's geopolitical reality.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has since underlined the safety of Hindu minorities twice in his statements on Bangladesh.
This story is from the September 1, 2024 edition of Outlook.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the September 1, 2024 edition of Outlook.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Criminal Amnesia
The focus may have now shifted to the Kolkata gang rape case, but questions about the sexual violence in Manipur since May 2023 remain unanswered
To Rape A Wife
Survivors of marital rape face twin hurdles: a lack of legal framework to deal with these cases and the social stigma that comes with reporting them
A City Violated
Public outburst of anger over the rape and murder of a junior doctor in Kolkata has left the Mamata Banerjee government puzzled, worried
The Forest of Loss
From a legal perspective, justice appears to have been served in the 2017 Gudiya rape and murder case at Kotkhai, Himachal Pradesh. But several questions persist
Here, Nobody Speaks of the Wounds
Muhammad Iqbal Shah's 14-year-old cousin was gang-raped and murdered at Handwara town, Kupwara, in 2007. The family is still trudging along the long road to justice
She Must Have Been Afraid
The 2012 Delhi gang rape is reflective of a systematic failure to cleanse the societal malaise
The Burning Woman
UP has the highest rate of crimes against women, and the district of Unnao has seen some of the State's most gruesome cases
Naked (vs.) Justice
On March 14, 2006, Latabai and her son, six, were paraded naked in a village in Solapur. Less than six months later, four members of a Dalit family were paraded naked; mother & daughter were allegedly gang-raped
Songlines of Chambal
How do the residents of Sheikhpur Gudha, Phoolan Devi's village in Uttar Pradesh, remember her: as a survivor, a rebel, a leader?
Don't You Remember My Story?
A child gang rape survivor's 12-year long ordeal in Sikar, Rajasthan shows how calls for punishment of perpetrators don't always mean empathy for the victim
