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OPINION

Is Bangladesh another "Headache" for India?
J. N. RAINA

It is time for action. Our country needs men of integrity and agility at the helm of affairs. When our enemy is acerbic, gasping for our blood and longing for “inflicting a thousand cuts” on India, we should act gingerly and conduct ‘business’ with our immediate petulant neighbours in a pragmatic way and a befitting manner.

Imbecility has its limits. Animosity in our neighbourhood is in no way on the wane. Ostensibly, the atmosphere is fraught with dangerous consequences. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, while speaking from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the 59th Independence Day, should have been aggressively forthright and taken time by the forelock to condemn overt and covert actions of not only Pakistan, but Bangladesh as well, where the menace of Muslim fundamentalism has taken wider dimensions, directed against India. Indulgence in polemics is of no use to deal with recalcitrant neighbours, who have vowed—one directly and the other indirectly—to punch and punish India by inflicting a ‘thousand cuts’ on our Motherland.

Manmohan Singh’s assertion that the ‘plotters’ (of inflicting cuts) would not succeed in their designs is just verbose, for during the past over two decades, we have been facing huge cuts. We are bleeding profusely, because of the low-intensity war being waged by Pakistan, in conjunction with Bangladesh, in whose birth pangs India played a pivotal role.

The ‘war’ tactics of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan are fast changing. The days of Kalashnikov rifles are gone. So far, over 1, 00,000 innocent people have been killed, mostly in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, in the wake of the proxy war. Now ISI has since penetrated deeper into India.

There are glaring examples of ineffectiveness on our part. There is too much of politicking in various spheres, where it is not needed. Interestingly, Manmohan Singh has focused his nation’s attention towards rapid progress achieved by Japan, China and smaller countries in South East Asia. But he has failed to mention that it is due to better governance, better leadership qualities and cohesion in their ranks that Japan and China have attained economic prosperity. In India, such qualities are lacking. India should take action rather than give sermons.

It is indecisiveness that has marred our well-defined prospective planning. In a country of one billion people, there is no dearth of superb technocrats, scientists and experts in different fields, who have earned laurels abroad. In India, it takes several decades to take firm decisions and clear well-meaning projects, which could ameliorate the lot of common people. Our leaders have gone crazy with the vote bank politics. Political parties are vying with each other in appeasing people of different communities, just for votes. Even criminals and Islamic hardliners are welcome to achieve their desired goal. What a contrast this is with the scene in Japan and China where politics is subordinate to national interest.

Our leaders hit the hay when infiltrators continue to pour in at an alarming rate from Bangladesh. Over 30 million Bangladeshis have found new and safe haven in India. They have mostly settled in Assam and adjacent states over the years, changing the demography of the North-East, West Bengal and Bihar. In a matter of years, they are bound to multiply. These issues apparently look small, but in the long run, will pose great danger to the fabric of our society. Some Bangladeshi nationals are involved in the recent Mumbai bomb blasts. When Shiv Sena supreme Bal Thackeray wanted Bangladeshi settlers in the western metropolis to be deported, pseudo-secularists slammed him. Mumbai policemen, who had accompanied the first batch deportees to Kolkata, were beaten up in West Bengal. Political wisdom is lacking in dealing with such national issues. India should emulate America and Israel and take lessons on how to defend national interest. If Israel’s response to the Hezbollah provocation can be treated as ‘disproportionate’, as described by some, what term can be used for Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in India, which is part of that country’s continuing proxy war?

The rub is that Bangladesh, which was a democratic and a secular country at its birth, is going Pakistan way. The Jamat-e-Islami, which was banned by Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, the founder of Bangladesh, is virtually in control of the government, led by Bangladesh National Party of Begum Khaleda Zia. The JI sided with Pakistan at the time of the liberation struggle of the nascent state. Islamic phobia is at the zenith in Bangladesh. Slogans like “We shall become Taliban, and we will become Afghanistan” are often echoed across the country. JI is an important limb of the four-party coalition government, led by BNP. The radicals want Bangladesh’s re-merge with Pakistan, which seems neigh impossible. Over 300 million people were killed at the hands of the Pak army in the liberation struggle. The Jamaat has to be marginalized.

Khaleda government has been adopting anti-India policies. The purpose is to harm India, especially in Assam, where efforts are on to create a Muslim-majority state, which can ultimately lead to its merger with Bangladesh. Pro-India Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina is being brutalized by the fundamentalists.

Bangladesh has become a headache for India. Every day, there are clashes on the long unmanned borders. There are huge security concerns. ULFA insurgents are sheltered in Dhaka. How long can India remain a passive spectator? It is time New Delhi musters the political will to tell the neighbour to check the anti- India campaign from its soil, in mutual interest and for mutual benefit.


Courtesy : Syndicate Features

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