'It was the hostility of the Yunus regime that made India careful and wary of dealing with them.' 'They gradually backed off and lowered the noise, but the damage was done.' 'Their true colours had been exposed.'
A group of people set fire to an ISKCON temple in Dhaka district in Bangladesh in the early hours of Saturday.
Recent attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh have ignited political debate in West Bengal, with the ruling TMC and opposition BJP utilizing the issue to advance their respective agendas. While the TMC emphasizes communal harmony and calls for international intervention, the BJP criticizes the TMC's inaction and links the situation to its push for the Citizenship Amendment Act. The issue has also brought other opposition parties into the fray, with all sides highlighting the interconnectedness of the region's socio-political fabric.
When I asked Krishna Gopal Sengupta, who had travelled through Bangladesh from Chittagong to Petrapole if the interim government had made any impact at ground level, he said, "it's been only a couple of days. They will need some time." Shyam G Menon reports from Petrapole, India's entry point with Bangladesh.
'The BJP lacks a credible mass leader who matches Mamata Banerjee's popularity.' 'Given the division of votes among Opposition parties, the West Bengal government's dole-giving strategy, and the consolidation of the poor, significant sections of scheduled caste groups and Muslim minorities behind the ruling party, it will be difficult to dislodge the Trinamool from power.'
Bangladesh's interim government has requested India to extradite deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has been living in exile in India since August. The request comes after the Bangladesh-based International Crimes Tribunal issued arrest warrants for Hasina and several others for "crimes against humanity and genocide." The interim government has cited an existing extradition treaty between the two countries as grounds for the request. Hasina has accused the interim government of perpetrating "genocide" and failing to protect minorities since her ouster.
'New Delhi has to make up its mind whether it wants to be a friend of the Bangladeshi people or they want to be a friend of a section of people, or one party or one leader'
Eight people, including madrasa teachers, were taken into custody for allegedly being associated with the same terror group, also known as Ansarul Bangla Team, in the past two days in the district.
President Mohammed Shahabuddin said he did not have any documentary evidence of Hasina resigning as prime minister before she fled the country on August 5 amidst student-led mass protests.
According to the Indian visa policy, Bangladeshi citizens holding diplomatic or official passports are eligible for visa-free entry and a stay of up to 45 days, The Daily Star newspaper said.
The North East Students' Organisation, the banner organisation of all the influential students unions in the seven north-eastern states, on Thursday shut down the region demanding detection and deportation of illegal Bangladeshi migrants from the region.
'At this moment you cannot give her asylum because if you do, then you are directing public anger against India.'
The BGB has not only been cooperating with the BSF along the international border on operational matters but is also taking all steps for the safety of Indian citizens and people belonging to minority communities in Bangladesh in collaboration with their civil authorities, the official said.
In her first public statement after her ouster on August 5, 76-year-old Hasina said several lives have been lost in violence in the name of agitation since July.
Muhammad Yunus proved that he was neither an armchair economist nor a slogan mongering political activist, but a doer destined to do what Mahatma Gandhi said -- to remove every tear from every eye, recalls Rup Narayan Das.
The clashes broke out this morning when protesters attending a non-cooperation programme to demand the government's resignation faced opposition from the supporters of the Awami League, Chhatra League, and Jubo League activists.
Nasreen accused Hasina of pleasing the 'Islamists', however, the same 'Islamists' have been in the student movement who forced the former Bangladesh PM to leave the country on Monday.
He said that Hasina had been considering resigning since Sunday and had left the country for her own safety after her family insisted.
'I want to thank the Prime Minister of India for supporting us'
At least 30 suspects have been detained in Bangladesh's Chattogram city for their alleged involvement in the killing of a lawyer and attacking security personnel following the arrest of a prominent Hindu community leader. The violence erupted after Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, spokesperson for Bangladesh Sammilita Sanatani Jagran Jote, was denied bail and sent to jail in a sedition case. The lawyer, Assistant public prosecutor Saiful Islam, was killed during clashes between security personnel and Das' followers. The interim government has condemned the violence, urging people to remain calm and has ordered an investigation into the killing and appropriate legal measures.
'My father died in the liberation struggle. Bangladesh is our Motherland. This is home,' says Monindra Kumar Nath, a Hindu who has lived his 74 years in Dhaka.
Bangladesh is in turmoil, which is not good news for India, which shares a porous 4000 km border with it. There is a danger of fundamentalism growing there, and India has to move in to reset its ties with the new dispensation before China and Pakistan make capital out of it, alerts Ramesh Menon.
Bangladesh descended into chaos on Monday as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina surreptitiously resigned and fled the country in a military aircraft while the Army stepped in to fill the power vacuum.
Separately, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the rapidly unfolding situation in Bangladesh. It is learnt that Jaishankar also apprised Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on the developments.
The students, including members of Bangladesh Scouts, were seen controlling the traffic movement at several places, the Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported.
Separately Indian embassy in Kyiv also urged its nationals who are still in Ukraine to register themselves for the evacuation process under 'Operation Ganga'.
Exhausted but elated, around 600 Indian students, who waged a tough battle for survival before being pulled out of war-battered Ukrainian city of Sumy, are now on way to Poland on a train from where they will be flown back home likely on Thursday.
'Bangladesh has become unstable and this instability will impact India.'
He also said that there is improvement in the law and order situation in the country.
Mahmud went to Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to "catch a flight en route to Delhi," an Airport Aviation Security official was quoted as saying by the Dhaka Tribune newspaper.
Life has come full circle for Nobel laureate Professor Mohammad Yunus, who faced persecution during Sheikh Hasina's regime for embezzlement, is now all set to head of the interim government in Bangladesh after she resigned and fled the country.
Former Jawaharlal Nehru University student and activist Umar Khalid has completed four years in jail after being arrested in connection with the 2020 northeast Delhi communal riots.
He asserted that it was time to "throw such forces out" to protect "mati, beti, roti" (land, daughter, bread).
"I'm taking all responsibility (of the country). Please cooperate," he said in a televised address amid reports that Hasina has left the country.
Truck movements across the India-Bangladesh border are on the rise, with increasing rentals signalling a trade recovery between the two South Asian nations. Yet, geopolitical tension looms large, with Bangladesh now under an interim government for nearly two months.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said two major terror modules were busted in the state in a "nationally coordinated operation".
'Everyone in Dhaka today is aware that that they need good relations, normal relations with India, but the question... but it's premature to think about that now, right now it is a crisis moment'
'The dominance of her party also meant that the institutions became lopsided -- whether it was the bureaucracy or the courts or the military.' 'She centralised power to the extent that you would see her representatives or her party office bearers having overly represented in these institutions.' 'That perhaps would have been the biggest blunder that she committed.'
The Dhaka to Kathmandu US-Bangla Airlines flight, with 67 passengers and four crew members on board, caught fire after it careened off the runway and ploughed into a football ground near the Tribhuvan International Airport on Monday.
'In the interim, India will be confronted with anti-India feeling because Sheikh Hasina had India's support.' 'We will have to deal with it, but it will not be a permanent phenomenon.' 'There is substantial goodwill towards India which will stand us in good stead.'
