Brewing anti-India rhetoric in B'desh a cause of concern for India

Guwahati, Nov 25: A disturbed neighbour is always a cause of worry for any country, and it is the same case for India so far as the situation in Bangladesh goes. With the situation in Bangladesh still not stable, India has a lot to worry about, as so far, India is not very sure of the stand of the interim Bangladesh government on maintaining relations with India.

Official sources told The Assam Tribune that anti-India rhetoric is still very strong in Bangladesh, and India has to worry on several fronts. The first cause of concern is terrorism, as several top leaders of the terrorist outfits are now out of jail. Some of them were jailed by the Sheikh Hasina government, and a few were nabbed after receiving inputs from Indian agencies. During the time of the Hasina government, intelligence agencies of India and Bangladesh shared real-time intelligence about the activities and movement of terrorists, and that was helpful for both governments.

With the present government's attitude towards the radical elements, the terror groups may become stronger, and in that case, they may try to sneak into India. In the past also, fundamentalist terror groups having bases in Bangladesh attempted to establish roots in Assam. But those moves were thwarted by the police and security forces, and the possibility of 1 more such attempt cannot be ruled out. However, sources pointed out that terrorism is not the only concern for India.

Bangladesh's economy has been seriously hit by the recent disturbance, and that may put pressure on India. Sources pointed out that the rate of infiltration of Bangladeshi nationals to India came down when the economy of Bangladesh started improving. According to reports, Bangladesh became a hub of garment manufacturers, and many top garment brands of the world set up factories in that country. Bangladesh became one of the top garment exporters in the world, and a huge workforce was engaged in the garment factories.

After the disturbance, many garment factories closed down, making a huge workforce jobless. Such unemployed people may try to sneak into India in search of jobs, and that is an area of concern for India. A number of Bangladeshi nationals were already caught in Assam when they were trying to move into different parts of India, particularly to South Indian states to work in factories. Assam Police alone pushed back more than 180 Bangladeshi nationals this year.

Most of them entered India via Tripura and were using Assam as a transit route. Moreover, Bangladesh recently faced devastating floods, and according to reports, 1.4 million farmers were affected. To keep up the anti-India rhetoric, the caretaker government in Bangladesh blamed India for the flood, a charge that was strongly denied by India. The flood-hit people, who are now facing serious economic hardship, may also try to sneak into India in search of jobs, sources added.

By-

R Dutta Choudhury