Friday, August 09, 2024

India is 99% neighbor of Bangladesh.

"Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was sworn in as the head of Bangladesh's interim government on Thursday (yesterday) evening, following the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina." "Muhammad Yunus, now serving as chief adviser - a role equivalent to prime minister - leads an interim cabinet of 16 members, including two student protest leaders." HT. However, "As in Egypt late in the Arab Spring, when pro-democracy protests against an elected president actually tipped the country into military rule, the prime mover was in fact an army desperate to protect its privileges." "Yunus, while popular, has no political base from which he could challenge the uniforms. The only organized opposition in Bangladesh - again, shades of Egypt here - is on the more Islamist side of the spectrum." "Bangladesh has appeared normal for so long that we have forgotten how dangerous it would be for it to become chaotic," wrote Mihir Sharma. "In an interview with the Indian Express on August 5, Yunus stated he was particularly disheartened by India's stance which regards protests as an internal matter." "Yunus warned of the broader implications of the unrest in Bangladesh, which is marked by violence and growing dissatisfaction among the population." "He painted a dire picture of young people fleeing to neighboring countries to escape the violence, which could lead to destabilization across the region." ET. Terrifying. Because, the entire west and north of Bangladesh is bordered by India. In the south is the Bay of Bengal. Only in the extreme south-east, it shares a short border with Myanmar. google.com. A civil war rages in Myanmar where, "Buddhist nationalist groups, including the MaBaTha and the anti-Muslim 969 movement, regularly call for boycotts of Muslim shops, the expulsion of Muslims from Myanmar, and attacks on Muslim communities." cfr.org. So Bangladeshis can escape only to India. Over 40,000 Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar have already entered India. wikipedia. "Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ultimately had to flee the country after deadly protests. People resented her autocratic rule, even though she had a solid economic track record, delivering 11 years of 5 percent-plus growth in real per capita income since her return to power in 2009. Modi, who just began a third five-year term, can lay claim to six such good years. Yet neither leader has managed to make a dent into the biggest challenge facing their youthful countries: unemployment." In India, "The state's investigative and prosecutorial agencies are perceived by many to be targeting Modi's political opponents and civil-society critics. Pre-poll surveys showed a sharp erosion of trust in the Election Commission." India should read the right lesson from the upheaval," wrote Andy Mukherjee. Recently, "The fatal stabbing of three young girls at a dance class in the seaside town of Southport, in the north of England, has been followed by the worst unrest the UK has seen in more than a decade." The disorder was widely condemned." BBC. "But there is a serious point here. In UK today, there is much middle class misunderstanding of the miseries endured by Britain's underclass, afflicted by generational unemployment, poverty, boredom and little hope for the future," wrote Alastair Lawson-Tancred. The enormous difference is that Britain and Bangladesh are relatively homogeneous nations with a single language while India has 22 officially recognized languages. There are 30 which are spoken by over one million people and 122 spoken by over 10,000 people. wikipedia. Some states are ruled by strong opposition parties. It will be difficult, therefore, to organize a nationwide protest as in Bangladesh and in the Arab Spring. Still a sudden influx of outsiders may lead to disturbance in border areas. How to seal off such a long land border. A very dangerous time for India.       

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