Bimal Pramanik
Director, Centre for Research in Indo-Bangladesh Relations
After the independence of Bangladesh the army finally established his roots in the Bangladesh polity through the assassination of President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and top leadership of the liberation struggle. They are also major beneficiaries of the foreign aid and development fund since then. Gradually, they have expanded their grip over the administration and society. As a result, all the governments succumb to the army even upon a little pressure, and keep the army related issues out of discussion in parliament or public fora. Policies of all the governments are the same regarding defence and army since the early seventies. Gradually, both the number and strength of the armed forces are increasing.
Major sections of the civil and military leadership as well as rank and file feel and express the idea, that 16 crores of people can hardly be accommodated within the present boundary of the country. It must be expanded by hook or crook, otherwise Bangladesh will not survive in future. Secondly, there is a perception prevailing in Bangladesh that India will occupy Bangladesh in future—Bangladesh should be prepared to resist them—this propaganda has been going on since its emergence in 1971. These are the two major thoughts that dominate the defence and foreign policies of all the governments.
The armed forces of Bangladesh always consider and preach the threat perception specially from India because of ninety percent of the international border being with India. They always suffer from this psyche since India is a big powerful neighbour, which may patronize/inspire any group that can create social unrest or anti-government movement if the ruling party acts against India’s interest. A few intellectuals think that by suppressing ethnic and religious minorities and following ethnic cleansing policies in the country because of an overwhelming majority of Muslims with a chronic anti-minority psyche, a social situation in the country has already been sufficiently provocative for the neighbour.
General Shafiullah—former chief of army staff and ex-defence advisor of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina—thinks Bangladesh has to build such an army that the neighbour has to count Bangladesh. India and Pakistan fought three major wars and still they are not good neighbours. But they count each other not for their good relations (!), but they know both of them have the power to hit back. To earn respect, Bangladesh must have teeth like Pakistan.
Pakistan legacy still haunts Bangladesh. They are failing to come out from the inimical perception towards India which was inherited from their predecessor, i. e. Islamic Pakistan. Most members of the Bangladeshi Muslim intelligentsia think, Bangladesh can survive only by strengthening the Islamist identity of a Bengali Muslim, not by reinforcing Bengali nationalism and Bengali culture. A rapid growth of madrassas and mosques in the country since the mid-seventies to strengthen the cultural and religious orientation as Bangladeshi Muslims are relevant in this context. They feel that most of the contents of Bengali culture are still dominated by Bengali Hindus, and it is also a part of the greater Indian culture. For that reason, Muslim social and political leaderships have been trying to build up a parallel culture for Bengali Muslims since Pakistani days. Fifty years later, Bengali Muslims identified themselves as Moderate Muslims with more or less a separate cultural identity from that of Bengali Hindus. Of late, this moderate Muslim identity of Bangladeshi Muslims is being preached not only in the country but also abroad. All the political leadership and elites of the country are pretending themselves to be moderate Muslims. But it is possible to take a different view. Radical Islamic fundamentalists have succeeded in influencing significantly the field of education, culture, society and politics. During the last five decades they have expanded influence not only over Bangladesh but also over the north-eastern region of India, especially West Bengal, Assam, Tripura. The aim is to organise Bengali Muslim masses for the greater interest of the Muslim community. Some features of growth of Madrassas and mosques in West Bengal and Assam are emerging significantly. In the mean time, so many social, religious and political demands of Muslims in West Bengal and Assam are already accepted by the ruling governments during the past three-four decades. Hence a parallel so-called Bangladeshi culture are being practised in the north-eastern region of India during the last two-three decades.
Another important observation is, since the days of the 1947 Partition, the Muslims psyche in both the parts of Pakistan is suffering from the injury of losing half of Bengal and Assam. They ruthlessly have been pursuing the policy of `lebensraum’ since the days of Partition. Acting perhaps, on the philosophy of the great Italian, Machiavelli, who observed in the 16th century, `sending immigrants is the next effective way to colonize countries because it is less offensive than to send military expeditions and much less expensive,” Bangladesh with a single-minded devotion has been following this policy and to say the least, it has been quite successful in this endeavour. The propagation of moderate Muslim nationalism in Assam and West Bengal can be faster/or slower depending on special political or social developments in the region. One may add that, in the present circumstances, it is hardly possible to launch a greater unity initiative among the Bangla speaking populace in the region on the basis of language, culture and nationalism. This `greater unity’ idea is still haunting some socio-political forces in the both parts of Bengal, despite its lack of feasibility. It is difficult to organise any movement on the basis of narrow Bengali nationalism/chauvinism or provincialism against central government from West Bengal and Assam, sponsored by the local political outfits raising the issues of deprivation by the centre. But there is a speculation on the emerging possibility to bring the Bangla speaking Muslims in the region under a moderate Islamic nationalism which may counteract the radical Islamic movement. But there are some new deterrent factors emerging in the political arena of West Bengal and Assam among the left and right wing ideological factions, and a group of intelligentsia against the process of radical Islamisation.
Some Bangladeshi intellectuals and academicians are re-thinking about Partition not only in 1947, but also in 1971 (2nd Partition). Though their thought of creation of East Bengal and Assam province dividing Bengal is different from that of the Bengali Hindu intelligentsia in 1905. They are also unhappy about the event of re-unification of Bengal in 1911 ( as desired by the Hindu intelligentsia including Rabindranath). It is mentionable that, non-cooperation of Muslim with the freedom struggle by Bengali Hindus during the British era was the ultimate cause of Bengal Partition repeal Act in 1911. But in the last quarter of the twentieth century Muslim feel encouraged to see the population pattern of West Bengal, Assam and Bangladesh, where Muslims form an overwhelming majority (61%) in the region (see table of composite population).
Table : Composite Population of West Bengal, Assam, Tripura, and Bangladesh 2011
Total Population | 265549750 | (%) |
Hindus | 99122635 | 37.33 |
Muslims | 161127317 | 60.68 |
Christians | 2374754 | 0.89 |
Source : Census of Assam, Tripura, and West Bengal, 2011, Government of India & Census of Bangladesh 2011.
They have started preaching that the Partition of India was wrong in 1947, and the Bengal region was the worst affected by the Partition. East Bengal also exploited by Pakistan like a colony, so Bangladesh was liberated, now they need living space in the North-East region.
But they shocked, when the Supreme Court of India’s verdict on NRC (National Register of Citizens) in Assam came to light and legitimate demands for NRC from other neighbouring Indian states were arising from the political and other social forces—which were beyond their comprehension.
“These are all related with the Partition of Bengal in 1947. What about `unpeopling’ through denial of four million Assamese Bengalis with the publication of NRC? What about a large part of Bengalis in Tripura and 25 million Bengalis in West Bengal fearing about their future seeing the NRC caricature in Assam? what are the relationships between this and 1947 Bengal Partition? Is there any assurance that similar situation will not crop us in Bangladesh and in other parts of India, in the future? This is politics! And to a large extent, related to the 1947 Bengal Partition.”[i] 1
The major political parties of Bangladesh and their servilely obedient intellectuals would hardly admit, that the Islamisation, and communalisation of Bangladesh society has gone the full circle during the last fifty years. In present day Bangladesh, what the common Muslim population is doing is grossly soaked in communalism and anti-Hindu sentiment, which precisely is the legacy of Pakistan. It has now become a wishful thinking that the fair wind of communal harmony is blowing in Bangladesh.
Leaders of the Muslim society as a whole are trying to organise and consolidate Muslim masses on the basis of religion and madrassa/religious teachings. The moderate views of the society are gradually being replaced by the radical Islamic concepts. As a result, the differences with the other religious and cultural sects have more and more widened. Now Bangladesh has become the main epicentre of India’s North-Eastern region for the propagation and promotion of the ultra-Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism in spite of the professed endeavour (!) by the present Bangladesh Government to eliminate pro-radical Islamist terrorists.
References :
[1] Abul Barakat, Ph.D., Keynote paper of the Plenary Session I, First International Conference on Partition Politics: Impacts on Society, Economy, Culture and Indo-Bangladesh Relations (1947—2018), Dhaka, 11 August, 2018, p.11.