The Reason of Bangladesh Hates India

"The problem of hating India actually is not only about hating India but it has a deeper meaning," explains Arnab Tagore, a Bangladeshi youngster who is now a medical student in Toronto.

“In India, even though the effect of Hindu nationalism is dying away slowly, in Bangladesh Islamic fundamentalism is rising. Now in Bangladesh you have to show that you are dedicated towards the Islamic cause in order for you to get votes. On the other hand, in India a political party has to show that it is secular in order to get the votes of undecided voters."

"India has made some mistakes as well," he adds.

"However, each and every mistake had been overstated in Bangladeshi newspapers and propagated by the Jamaat-e-Islam.

There are some mistakes from the Indian side.
1. Around the border the Indian army was responsible for shooting at some innocent people. The Jamaat-e-Islam and the ruling BNP propagated this incident as 'India Bangladeshi-der mere kete sesh kore dicche.' To tell you the truth, that isn't the case. More people die in Bangladesh due to disease. They also forget to mention that BDR itself has killed some Indian soldiers in a barbaric way.

2. “India was actually responsible for the water problem through the Farraka dam. From the legal side, even though "Bangladesh cannot touch India as water is considered a resource of particular countries, for the sake of moral understanding India should have been more careful regarding this problem. This water problem has caused various environmental problems in Bangladesh."

3. “There are some stupid fanatic Hindus in India who talk about independent Bangabhumi, that they would break India and create an independent Hindu republic," says Tagore.

"According to the secular people of Bangladesh and other sources, there might be no more than 100 people supporting this movement. What they do is as soon as Hindus are attacked in Bangladesh, they spout some anti-Bangladeshi remarks on the border.”

"BNP portrays them as having 10,000 soldiers ready to take over Bangladesh. They also accuse India of not catching them. Well, how can you catch something if it doesn't exist?" he asks.

"Along with hatred against India, the hatred against Hindus has risen alarmingly as well. The Jaamat knows that the minority won't vote for them and they need to alienate the minority", he concludes.

"India loses nothing by accommodating its neighbours," says former Bangladesh foreign secretary Mommahed Mohsin, quoting late Indian national security adviser and former foreign secretary J N Dixit. "But sadly, instead, it prefers to use a patronising tone."

Most people in Bangladesh agree that the growing anti-India feeling in their country mirrors the rise of the Jaamat.

Despite being accused of war crimes, and despite holding a Pakistani passport, Abdul Majid's mentor, Golam Azam, was pardoned and allowed to return to Bangladesh as the Jaamat leader in 1977 by General Zia-ur Rahman.

Following an uproar against Azam after the restoration of democracy in 1990, a case was lodged against him for heading the Jaamat while holding Pakistani passport. But the supreme court ruled that he was a Bangladeshi by birth, and restored his citizenship.

"The Jaamat has been consistently and virulently anti-India, long before Bangladesh was born. Khaleda Zia knows that she won the election because of her hard-line position against India," says an Indian official. "While she may or may not personally support their more radical demands like the imposition of Sharia law, she is politically beholden to them, and hence dare not antagonise them," the official adds.

"Besides, she seems far too busy running down Hasina to bother about such mundane things like running the nation," he says.

"She also hopes that by fanning the flames of anti-Indian sentiment she will be able to distract attention from the more pressing problems plaguing the nation. The problem, as far as India is concerned, is that she uses her ultimate weapon with aplomb: Absolute denial."