Going beyond the sugary official rhetoric of bilateral bonhomie between India and Bangladesh, public misgivings about India’s objectives have remained strong. The new India-related obsession is not just restricted to familiar anti-Indian lobbies like the Jamaat-e-Islami or the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). There is much enlightened analysis these days about India’s policy in open public discourse on regional issues in the major dailies, websites or the vibrant social media. Academicians, analysts and commentators who cannot be summarily brushed off as anti-Indian, are raising incisive questions, keeping in mind developments in the past as well. Clearly, much more needs to be done by both countries than issuing ritual reminders of warm bilateral ties from Dhaka and Delhi.

Following Majed’s execution, ordered long ago by the anti war criminal tribunal in Bangladesh, reports claiming that India has handed over Risaldar Moslemuddin, another prize catch — he reportedly had shot Mujib personally! — are doing the rounds. As with Majed’s arrest from the Park Street area in Kolkata and his secret hijacking to Bangladesh under the guard of Bangladesh commandos, official sources in Delhi and Dhaka have remained silent about Moslemuddin. Like Majed, he too was arrested from West Bengal, which does not surprise security analysts.

The arrest and handover of Majed to Bangladesh and his subsequent execution are, according to Indian sources, the product of a joint Indo-Bangla operation. Significantly, West Bengal Government and police authorities were kept out of the loop following fears of leakage.

It may be recalled that Risaldar himself years ago had escaped certain arrest at Murshidabad, where he had been hiding, even as a Bangladesh team of commandos closed in. Bangladesh authorities had, as demanded by protocol, kept the Bengal police informed up to the last. Yet, the man escaped, reinforcing speculation about the role played by the local/state police. It needs stressing that in the recent past, contingents of the Punjab and Uttar Pradesh police, too, have carried out anti-terror strikes and arrest ops in Bengal without informing local authorities, not willing to compromise operational secrecy.

This is the birth centenary year for the late Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh. On August 15, 1975 he was brutally assassinated, along with 13 relatives and members of his family, in two locations, by a team of renegade army personnel. Present Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed escaped only because she happened to be abroad at the time, along with her sister.

There can be no question that Indo-Bangla bilateral ties have never been warmer. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, chosen special guest of honour in the Mujib birth centenary celebrations, sent a congratulatory message to Prime Ministter Hasina and her people on March 17 this year.

He referred to the upgrading of diplomatic and economic ties bilaterally during the last 5/6 years. He spoke of the contrast between Bangladesh, which had made rapid progress in recent times, with Pakistan, the country that tried to wreck its former exploited eastern province in the name of preserving national integrity. As Dhaka policymakers said, the arrest and execution of Majed comes as a special sweetener.

The question that needs addressing is why should doubts arise now, about the possibility of an Indian double cross vis-à-vis Bangladesh in 1975? Bangladeshi social media is full of messages from people who are unsure about India’s role, not to mention that of West Bengal.

To give a typical example: One correspondent writes in a prominent Bangladesh news website: “Bangladesh people and Prime minister Sheikh Hasina need to check out how captain Majed and Risaldar Moslemuddin were hiding in India so long? Did not West Bengal police know it? What about India’s RAW? Something is fishy…Did the Mujib killers had any contract with Indian authorities for their evil act? Can we say no to such assumptions?” There have been many similar tweets and messages of late in the Bangladeshi web media.

Observers feel it would be unwise for Indian observers to dismiss them as the frustrated outpourings from supporters of the BNP/ and Jamati activists known for their anti-Indian sentiments.

It is common knowledge that Majed before marrying in Bengal about a decade ago, had been living for over twenty three years in different parts of the state. His surviving widow Zareena, a barely literate, local Muslim woman, according to reports, was never told very much about her husband. She had a daughter from an earlier marriage. She agreed to marry her second husband, who went by the name of Ahmed Ali, ‘a teacher’, persuaded by friends and relatives. Her family was keen to see her remarried. According to reports, the state police authorities have not yet bothered to talk to her relatives with a view to tracing out the local support base of Muslim extremists operating out of Bangladesh!

The unusually reticent Ali, especially about his past activities in Bangladesh, was a devoted Namazi. Initially, the couple lived in Uluberia, an area which for the record has emerged as a hub of religious fundamentalism. Their married life lasted around 10 years. Majed had succeeded in securing two Indian passports in different names and an Aadhaar card as well.

The ex-soldier did not lack means, as he apparently moved up in life. Long before he went missing this February, as Bangladeshi commandos finally tracked him down, he had purchased at over Rs 25 lakh in Indian currency, a flat on Bedford street. His confused wife ran from pillar to post to find him. The ‘snatch’ physically carried out by four commandos, had been kept secret by both countries at the top level.

Officially, Dhaka sources told the media that Majed had been arrested while he was moving around in a rickshaw one morning in the Mirpur area.

After details of ‘operation Majed’ were published by sections of Kolkata-based non-mainstream Bengali media, both the Centre and the Bengal government came in for much flak from Indian readers. Of around 12 comments, mostly criticizing both governments for their failure to check illegal immigrants for vote bank considerations on several websites, a typical example read:

“I’m sure that this assassin lived in West Bengal with the tacit or explicit approval of the Communist and the Trinamool Congress Governments in West Bengal. Aadhaar card and passport, too! The central Government must also share the blame …..”

In short, there has developed a certain trust deficit about officialdom in Bengal and India in general and it is not necessarily attributable to Bangladesh alone. (IPA Service)