New Delhi: Former Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty Monday stated that India has consistently expressed its stance on the political situation in Bangladesh, stressing the need to hold free, fair, inclusive and credible elections and transfer power to the winning party.
Speaking exclusively to media, Chakravarty said, “India has already made its position clear. It has been stated that free, fair, inclusive and credible elections should be held as soon as possible, and power should be handed over to whoever wins. India has no favourites and will engage with whichever party is democratically elected. But there should be a democratic party, which will bring back the Constitution, which is not yet operational.”
“The Constitution has been put in the freezer, so with such a government like that, you cannot make any long-term planning, because tomorrow someone will come and will change everything. That is why the attitude of India has been to wait and watch, and after that, India will take further steps. India will never intervene in their domestic issue. But we can certainly express our concern. We have expressed concern over the way Hindus are being killed. And, if something happens there that creates a problem for us, naturally our stance will be communicated to them,” he added.
Meanwhile, another former diplomat Veena Sikri described the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government as “illegitimate”, saying it must be held globally responsible for the attacks on the minorities and should not be allowed to continue in power.
Highlighting atrocities on Hindu minorities, she told media, “I think what they have done to Dipu Chandra Das is barbaric. It is medieval. It is not for 21st-century civilization. So to think that people in Bangladesh can behave like that means that they’ve been instigated to do it. Because I don’t think the people of Bangladesh would naturally resort to such a brutal approach. This business of saying that, you know, somebody had done blasphemy. It’s all fake. Now it has been proved by the inquiry afterwards that it is completely fake.”
She stated that the Yunus-led interim government remained silent even as the brutality against Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, Sufis and Ahmadiyyas continued unabated following the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The former diplomat recalled that on August 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent a congratulatory message to Yunus upon his appointment as Chief Advisor to the interim government and at the same time urged him to protect minorities amid the rising violence.
“Hindu professors have been surrounded and forced to resign. Hindu journalists are in jail for more than a year without any kind of charges, no trial, nothing. So this is a really barbaric situation that is prevailing in Bangladesh. And I think that now that they are trying to hold fake elections which are non-participatory, the violence is becoming even more,” she added.
Commenting on the deteriorating situation in Bangladesh, former diplomat K.P. Fabian said, “The fact is that Bangladesh is descending into chaos and anarchy, sinking deeper into that state by the day. One reason is that interim Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus has been unable to control the situation, allowing forces hostile to India, such as Jamaat-e-Islami and others, to gain political clout. More importantly, Pakistan and China have been working overtime to spoil relations between India and Bangladesh.”
