August 7, 2024

 

The situation in Bangladesh has really disturbed me. I am not a political person in the same vein as many of my classmates from college. However, the Prime Minister was ousted by an angry mob who claimed to be “oppressed” by the seemingly autocratic leader who had been in power for 15 years- and had also just won a re-election earlier in January. The fact is that I have no idea if she was an oppressor or not, however I do know that she was on the best of terms with the government of India and amongst all our neighbours, bangladesh was arguably the best relationship we enjoyed. Internally there was a consensus across parties in India on how we handled the Bangladesh relationship. However, the people in bangladesh were not pleased with her- also on account of her closeness with India. This is the disturbing part. The people of bangladesh, it seems to me by and large hate India. And I mean really hate India. They want to ban Indian products in their stores and the crowd in Bangladesh India match that is played in Bangladesh is often scarier than a crowd in Pakistan. Pakistan is an interesting case. While they are also haters, I kind of accept it. After all they were fed propaganda by the Army so that the army could stay in power. And we havent done any favours to them, so there is no inherent reason for them to love us. They have harmed us a lot over the years, we have fought wars with them- all in all, there are extenuating circumstances for our hatred. Having said that, I have some of the most delightful Pakistani colleagues at work today and I have had similarly prior in my professional life.  They are extremely polite and show immense respect, even though inwardly they may feel otherwise for the group. It is a sign of immense sophistication when you can continue to blanket-hate a group but don’t let that hate engulf an individual. And I will give the Paksitanis that. It is almost like they don’t really hate us, but they are somehow forced to by some invisible hand,  and officially they must. That is Pakistan.

But Bangladesh?  This is a country that won its freedom because of the Indian Army. They only exist because we had made this happen. I am certain this is not up for debate. There are enough Muslim bangaldeshis who admit this openly- or atleast do not deny it- how can they?  It would be absurd.  One would think there should be nothing but an overwhelming and overflowing spring of gratitude and brotherly love coming across from our Eastern Border. On the contrary, the reverse narrative has succesfully been planted amongst the youth – the Gen Z of Bangladesh that somehow portrays as the devil incarnate. That is what is stressing me out. We know, that which we don’t undertand is what causes stress, not the event itself. It is remarkable how this story has been promulgated- one would think in the digital age, and amongst clever by half Gen Z folks, this type of old-style propaganda wihout any real merit is not easy to push. And yet they have done so. What an absolute shame- and if anything, Sheikh Hasina should be held to account for letting this happen under her very eyes. It does seem that she was far removed from what was happening on the ground, but this also smacks of institutional malaise. The mobs were defacing statues of Mujib Ur Rehman- the so-called father of the nation. I mean, what is being written in their history textbooks and what is being taught to them in schools? Surely they don’t all go to religious schools- or maybe they mostly do. I have also known that there is a segment of people in Bangladesh whoa re insanely rich but the rest are insanely poor. The rich kids are who you see in US universities studying for degree programs without scholarships. Perhaps the middle class in Bangladesh is in reality a working class. The economic news coming from the country was always positive so even this is surprising if true. The only explanation I can get around is if the rebellion is basically an economic rebellion. It is a case of disenchanted youth who do not have jobs or opportunities to better themselves. By the way, this is a universal phenomenon that is staring us in the face. The reasons for this are very broad- not just related to autocratic regimes or banana republics. It is geo-politics, a right-wing inwards looking world order that is germinating in the west, and above all it is technological disruption by Artifical Intelligence. I worry about the future of my kids every day, as I have written before. But, but, but- what has any of this got to do with India? Why the hate? What about our cultural similarities- what about Rabindra Sangeet which is far more revered in bangladesh and Kabi Nazrul who is possibly more revered in West Bengal. What about the fact that my favourite Bangla band- by miles..is Miles! I posted about this days ago upon the death of Shafin Ahmed, the frontman who I mentioned had arguably the best voice amongst all the vocalists in the genre. Lyrically there were better outfits but musically I held them so high. I have covered two of their hits with my erstwhile band in Singapore. In fact, while in singapore, our band once played for the Bangladeshi construction worker community who lived in a camp. We played there and we got a lot of love from these construction workers even though we were Indian Bengalis.  There are many more memories of positive interactions with Bangladeshi folks I could mention, but the over-arching point is that somehow this obvious show of hatred from such large swathes of bangaldeshi people has saddened me. I am not one to be saddened easily- mainly because I tend not to get too involved with people. I honestly believe getting too involved or close to people is a recipe for disppointment. And yet here I am. Disappointed. Not by one person but by a whole nation.