In the first battle between the interim Government of Bangladesh and India in the international forum — that is the United Nations, Bangladesh interim government chief adviser Dr. Muhammad Yunus had a clear victory over Prime Minister Narendra Modi without having any one on one meeting between the two. Dr. Yunus was determined to score over India in his first major global appearance and he did it.
The United Nations general assembly met from September 22 to 30 in New York this year like every other year. This year, after the takeover of the interim government in Bangladesh following the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on August 5, the head of the interim government Dr. Muhammad Yunus had been contacting the heads of the governments of major countries including the USA, China, the EU nations and the SAARC countries including Pakistan.
For him, the immediate opportunity came in September end as the UN general assembly was scheduled to meet. Dr. Yunus with his good contacts in New York decided to make full use of his visit to UN to apprise the world leaders of the Bangladesh interim government programme for ensuring political and economic stability in the country and why Bangladesh was demanding extradition of Sheikh Hasina from India.
Dr. Yunus sought a meeting with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his New York visit. The original programme was Indian PM would address UN general assembly on September 26 and the Bangladesh interim head on September 27. Indian officials were silent on the meeting. Then suddenly, the programme of the Indian PM was reduced to three days from September 21 to 23 and what was surprising PM would not be addressing the UN general assembly. He suggested the external affairs minister Dr. S Jaishankar as his replacement and Dr. Jaishankar was given the slot on September 28.Our PM attended the QUAD meeting and addressed the UN’s adjunct programme on Future.
The net result was the Bangladesh interim head Dr. Yunus during his four day stay in New York from September 24 to 27 took full advantage of Indian Prime Minister’s absence and briefed large number of world leaders on the Bangladesh situation and focusing how Indian support to the Sheikh Hasina Government led to the dictatorial tendencies of the ousted Awami League prime minister Sheikh Hasina. While PM Modi gloated about his bilateral meeting with President Biden during QUAD meeting at Delaware on September 21, Dr. Yunus had a ‘highly successful’ meeting with President Biden on the first day of his visit and got all the promises he wanted. President Biden assured Dr. Yunus all out support to the economic rehabilitation programme of the interim government.
Dr. Yunus in his meetings with leaders including US leaders did not use aggressive words against India but he presented his views in such a way that India’s pro’ authoritarian Hasina’s role came up. This was most evident in his address at the climate summit organized by Clinton Foundation in which former president Bill Clinton was present as also top Democratic Party officials. He mentioned of three issues foremost-‘People would have no peace until Hasina was brought back to India and tried in Bangladesh, Hasina destroyed all institutions and Hasina was the worst human rights violator. Dr. Yunus promised to establish a new Bangladesh with strong economy and individual freedom.
What was significant that he introduced to the American guests two of his assistants .One was Mahafuj Alam. He was introduced as the brain behind the Bangladesh mass upsurge. Who was he? Mahafuj is the leader of the earlier banned Islamic Students wing Hijbul Tahkir, one of the worst fundamentalist groups in the country which was involved in terrorist activities in Bangladesh during Hasina’s time. The famous Bangladeshi novelist and now in exile, Taslima Nasrin tweeted ‘Yunus has introduced Alam as main brain behind ouster of Hasina and Bill Clinton clapped at that. Is this the USA which talks of fighting Islamic terrorism?’
Dr. Yunus sought two objectives. He wanted international assistance for rebuilding economy of Bangladesh. He got that assurance from President Biden, EU president, IMF and the World Bank. Then, he wanted to prepare a base for getting international support for his demand for extradition of Hasina from India. This he did skillfully mentioning of the criminal cases pending in Bangladesh involving Hasina. He projected Hasina as the one of the greatest dictators in South Asia.
Significantly, Dr. Yunus had talks with the Pakistan Prime Minister as also Nepal Prime Minister. He discussed the possibility of reviving SAARC which is now non-functional due to the bilateral tensions between India and Pakistan. These countries felt that India had no interests in SAARC functioning. In fact, Dr. Yunus mentioned of taking the issue to the other SAARC leaders for reviving this regional organisation which has held no summit since 2016. This move is getting full support of Pakistan and Nepal and this will isolate India unless New Delhi opts for an appropriate strategy.
The fact is that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has allowed Dr. Yunus to market the vision of Bangladesh interim government unchallenged by hurriedly leaving New York for New Delhi on September 23. He should have met Dr. Yunus in New York and discussed the issues. Even if he wanted to avoid a one on one meeting, his presence in New York as per his original programme could have been very beneficial for India from the diplomatic point of view.
Bangladesh interim Government gets international support from both USA and China. Dr. Yunus is getting regular advice from the US officials in preparation of his action plan. Indian has to be pro-active now without interfering in the affairs of Bangladesh. India has to launch its own diplomatic offensive to explain the possibilities as also the dangers in Bangladesh. Islamic terrorism cannot be allowed to grow and get government patronage through the interim government in Bangladesh.. At the request of Indian government, Sheikh Hasina has stopped expressing her views publicly. But India cannot allow planned subjugation of the mostly secular Awami League and rejuvenation of Islamists including known terrorists. Dr. Yunus is not as politically innocent as he gives the impression.. He is playing a game. South Block has to be vigilant to that and take necessary action. (IPA Service)
