BNP's current policy towards India

After its failed violent movement to unseat the government in its demand for a fresh general election under a caretaker government, BNP's policy vis-à-vis India has caught many by surprise. In fact, the party followed a persistently anti-Indian policy since its inception. This was intensified with the assumption of leadership of the party by Khaleda Zia some three decades ago.

The apparent policy shift of the BNP was evidenced first when it thanked Prime Minister Modi, his government, and the leaders of the political parties that played a vital role in the passage of the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) bill in the Indian parliament. In a similar note, BNP welcomed the upcoming maiden visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who landed in Bangladesh on a two-day state trip on June 6. In a press briefing, BNP spokesperson Asaduzzaman Khan Ripon hoped that Modi's trip will bolster ties between the people of both countries."We are not anti-India and have never been anti-Indian and will never be anti-Indian. BNP safeguards the interest of the country. This can never be termed anti-Indian." BNP also promised it would never let Bangladesh territory to be used by Indian insurgents.

It is impossible to predict if BNP would be true to its words about its future policy toward India, but it is not difficult to recollect the past stances of BNP vis-à-vis issues between Bangladesh and its giant neighbour. Let us reflect back on a few issues where the party made its intransigent anti-India policy nakedly obvious. In 1997, the BNP chief in a policy statement declared, "Bangladesh supports the independence movement of seven Indian states".

Following Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit from January 10-13 in 2010, at the invitation of the Indian PM Dr. Manmohan Singh, to India where a 50-point communiqué was signed, the BNP chairperson even without knowing the contents of the joint communiqué, categorically blasted the PM, and went as far as accusing her of selling the country to India.

In her press conference, the BNP chief termed the joint statement as a communiqué of India and Awami League, disregarding the fact that she went to India as the PM of Bangladesh, not as the AL chief. The opposition leader also criticised what she termed as the prime minister's "indifference" to the Tipaimukh dam issue. She said that the joint statement released during the PM's visit suggested that she had "sold out the interests of the country to India" and given a "green signal" to carry forward the Tipaimukh dam project. In fact, nothing could be further than the truth. The PM in her own press briefing reiterated the Indian PM's assurance that India would do nothing to harm Bangladesh's interest. In fact, time has proven that the Indian PM has kept his words since Tipaimukh Dam has never been built and the Bangladesh PM was proven justified in trusting the verbal words of her Indian counterpart.

During the first tenure of Sheikh Hasina's AL government, the Ganges water sharing treaty and the Chittagong Hill Tracts peace treaty were signed. Both of these treaties were vehemently opposed by the BNP. For the CHT treaty, the BNP chief warned the nation that due to the treaty, Feni and districts in the further south would become a part of India and she led a long march to CHT, albeit with very little support from the people. The region still remains very much a part of Bangladesh. The treaty, in fact, boosted Bangladesh's image in the international arena and the PM was awarded the prestigious UNESCO peace award for her leadership in securing the peace deal.

Canadian Statesman, the late Pierre Trudeau, referring to Canada's relation with its giant neighbour, once said, "Living next to the United States is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, one is affected by every twitch and grunt". In Bangladesh, we can very well echo Trudeau's sentiments in terms of our relation with India. No matter how devoted a patriot one is, it would be moronic not to consider the vastness and the military might of our neighbour. The best course of action open to us would be to use the diplomatic means to defuse the tension and settle disputes. This is the front where Bangladesh has the potential to match or even supersede the skills of her counterpart. The recent signing of the LBA by all political parties in both houses of the Indian parliament has proven once again the power of diplomacy and statesmanship.

The BNP chairperson's cancelling her scheduled meeting with the visiting Indian President in the pretext of hartal was the most indecorous act by a former PM to a visiting head of state, that too of a neighbouring country who played a crucial role in our Liberation War. Jingoism might win some instant votes, but it does not help to increase the flow by a single drop of water through the Ganges. It only inflicts miseries on the people and cripples the nation.

In view of the Indian PM's upcoming visit to Bangladesh, BNP has called upon Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to discuss Bangladesh-India bilateral issues with party chief Khaleda Zia before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bangladesh."Based on the outcomes of the discussion with BNP's chief, the prime minister will tell her Indian counterpart that the demands which she placed are not of the ruling Awami League, but every party of the country endorsed those," BNP spokesperson Asaduzzaman Ripon told a press briefing.

Starting from lauding of the signing of the LBA (which the BNP once termed as the "treaty of slavery") in the Indian parliament, welcoming Modi's visit and finally urging the PM to discuss the Bangladesh-India bilateral issues with the BNP chief before the Indian PM's visit, it sounded like the protocols exhibited by the parliamentary opposition of a perfect Westminster democracy. However, only the future will tell if the current policy shift of BNP towards India is a ruse or the outcome of sincere retrospection. 

The writer is the Convenor of the Canadian Committee for Human Rights and Democracy in Bangladesh.