US President Donald Trump’s harsh comment on the current situation in Bangladesh has made the Muhammad Yunus camp nervous while Hasina’s sees it as a boon.
It is generally accepted that the stunning victory of Republican candidate Donald Trump against his Democratic rival Kamala Harris in the November 5 US Presidential election, will have a significant impact on various countries.
It is already having a significant impact on Bangladeshi politics at least. This is because the Trump, the President-elect, has spoken his mind on the troubled situation in Bangladesh, clearly indicating which side he is on in the fractious politics of that country.
Trump’s utterance on Bangladesh has deeply disturbed the Interim Government led by Dr. Muhammad Yunus. At the same time, it has kindled hopes of a return to power in the Awami League which was ousted from power by a mass movement in early August.
Undisguised bonhomie
And given the undisguised bonhomie between Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bangladeshis assume that any moves by Trump against Yunus in favour of Sheikh Hasina will have Modi’s tacit support. This equation would make Trump a very formidable foe for Yunus and a very powerful ally for Hasina.
What triggered the fear in the Yunus camp, was Trump’s message on X to the Hindus in America on the occasion of Deepavali on October 31. “I strongly condemn the barbaric violence against Hindus, Christians, and other minorities who are getting attacked and looted by mobs in Bangladesh, which remains in a total state of chaos,” he said. “It would have never happened on my watch. Kamala and Joe have ignored Hindus across the world and in America,” he said.
Supporting Hindutva, Trump added, “We will also protect Hindu Americans against the anti-religion agenda of the radical left. We will fight for your freedom. Under my administration, we will also strengthen our great partnership with India and my good friend, Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi.”
Trump’s statement was a shot in the arm for the Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh, who were already complaining of attacks on them during the student agitation against Sheikh Hasina’s Government.
On October 26, before Trump’s Deepavali remarks, Hindus under the banner ‘Sanatan Jagaran Manch’ organised a massive rally in Chittagong, demanding protection. A meeting was held at the historic Lal Dighi Ground, where minority Hindus presented eight major demands.
Some of the demands were -Establish a tribunal to prosecute those involved in crimes against the minorities; compensate victims and provide for their rehabilitation; legislate a Minority Protection Act immediately; set up a Ministry of Minority Affairs; construct places of worship for minorities in every educational institution and allot prayer rooms in every hostel; upgrade Hindu, Buddhist and Christian Welfare Trusts to Hindu Foundations; and modernise Sanskrit and Pali education.
More recently, following Trump’s pro-Hindu speech, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), was accused of indulging in attacks on the police and the Army. Suspicions were sowed about ISKCON’s motives and promoters, both domestically and internationally.
The Dhaka Tribune said that that ISKCON’s behaviour was meant to provoke communal rioting in the country which would be an excuse for foreign intervention. The write-up added that ISKCON’s rallies were attended by pro-Awami League Muslims also. In this way, the writer drew a link between Hindus, India and the Awami League, with Trump giving moral support.
The Dhaka Tribune highlighted that Bangladesh was desperately trying to restore order and peace and that it was inconsiderate on the part of Trump to say that there was “barbaric violence” in Bangladesh, and that the nation was in “A total state of chaos”. Not only was his statement not factual, but showed an utter disregard for niceties expected from a man about to be President of the United States.
The Dhaka Tribune said in an editorial, “Indeed, at a time when the rest of the world is showing solidarity with the interim Government under the leadership of Muhammad Yunus, Trump’s unfortunate words are nothing but a disservice to the efforts being made to correct the wrongs that are undoubtedly present. While there is no denying that there remain untoward incidents of violence and lawlessness, something that this newspaper has reported on exhaustively and routinely editorialises on, to speak of these isolated incidents as the norm and condemning the entire nation as being gripped in chaos tells us that the former US President is either misinformed of the reality at present in Bangladesh, or worse.”
Speculation in Bangladesh
There is also speculation in Bangladesh about whether Trump made the anti-Yunus statement because Yunus was supposedly the Biden Administration’s choice for heading the Interim Government.
In defence of the Interim Government, Chief Advisor, Yunus told the German TV Deutsche Welle that the attacks on the Hindus had taken place in the initial days of the violent mass movement when all suspected supporters of Sheikh Hasina were attacked. But these attacks stopped when police took action. He denied that his Government was anti-Hindu.
On Friday, Army chief Gen. Waker-uz-Zaman, attending a Buddhist function in Dhaka, assured the audience that Bangladesh was for all – Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and Christians – and that Bangladesh had been the home of all these religions. He said that this year, the Government saw to it that the Durga pooja went off “beautifully”.
However, a more recent development caused great apprehension, if not consternation, in Bangladesh. It was Sheikh Hasina’s message to Donald Trump congratulating him on his electoral victory. She had signed off her message designating herself as the “Prime Minister of Bangladesh.”
Having sent this message from exile in Delhi and to the pro-Modi Donald Trump, Hasina gave the impression in Bangladesh that she had done it with Delhi’s nod. Hasina’s being still “Prime Minister of Bangladesh” was an issue earlier too.
The President of Bangladesh, Mohammad Shahabuddin (her appointee), had told a Dhaka newspaper that Hasina had quit Bangladesh without submitting her resignation to him. This simple statement of fact was interpreted by student agitators as Shahabuddin’s way of questioning the legitimacy of the Yunus Government.
Students stormed his residence and tried to force him to resign. But the Yunus Government did not want a Constitutional crisis as there would be no Constitutional functionary left to maintain continuity if the President had resigned. Parliament had been dissolved earlier.
With Sheikh Hasina indicating that she is still Prime Minister, her party, the Awami League, got activated in Bangladesh. They tried to hold public meetings on November 10 to mark the death anniversary of Noor Hosain, a hero of the 1987 pro-democracy movement against President Gen. H. M. Ershad. It was said that the Awami Leaguers were doing this on the insistence of Sheikh Hasina who had also asked them to carry portraits of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Donald Trump.
The anti-Awami League students and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) supporters rushed to the venue of the Awami League meeting in Dhaka and beat up the Awami Leaguers. The police ended up arresting 50 Awami Leaguers, not the attackers.
On November 11, students of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement organised a protest rally in Rangpur, demanding a ban on the Awami League. They also demanded that the accomplices of Hasina’s authoritarianism hiding within the administration be identified and brought to trial. The Awami League’s students’ wing, the Chhatra League had already been banned.
Another procession
Bangkadesh Nationalist Party (BNP) cadres gathered outside Awami League’s central office in Gulistan Dhaka, and chanted slogans against the Awami League. But over 100 AL leaders and activists brought out a procession in front of the BRTC bus terminal under the banner of the Dhaka South Awami League. Another procession was held in front of the South City Corporation, where leaders and activists from the Dhaka Metropolitan Awami League, Jubo League and other affiliated organisations took part. Some leaders and activists from the central AL and its affiliated organisations gathered in front of the Bangladesh Bank near Motijheel and marched towards Zero Point. But all of them were chased and attacked by BNP activists and the supporters of the Anti-Discriminatory Student Movement.
The students of Jahangirnagar University demonstrated demanding that Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s name be removed from one of the faculties.
