This is the view of the Dhaka-based mainstream print/electronic media, where opinion makers usually react sharply to individual reports published abroad — the more so if any item projects ‘negativity’ about Bangladesh.

Now that a new caretaker regime is ruling the country with Nobel laureate economist Dr Mohamed Yunus as its Chief adviser, Bangladeshi media analysts are saying openly that India’s open support and special efforts to cosy up to the ruling Awami League (AL) did not add to Ms Hasina’s popularity. Indian Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi had even tried to persuade US President Mr Joe Biden to go somewhat ‘soft’ with the ruling AL , as Bangladesh general elections approached.

Mr Modi’s unorthodox soliciting of US support for Bangladesh followed an open request made by senior AL leaders. They wanted India to play the good mediator especially with relations getting increasingly strained with the US over the human rights/election-related issues in recent years. Such unorthodox diplomatic manoeuvrings usually not reported in the public domain, were not appreciated by most Bangladeshis. They upset especially the younger sections of Bangladeshi voters, already seething over unemployment, corruption and inflation.

Opposition parties, even if they lost the elections, taking full advantage of the anti-incumbency factors working against the AL and its Prime Minister, gradually consolidated their grip on the rapidly changing situation after the polls.

And it was during this post-poll three/four weeks that Indian policymakers/Delhi based GOI lost the plot in its neighbourhood.

Both GOI and the outgoing AL administration had badly underestimated the extent of public anger against the rulers. It would have been far better if the bonhomie between the AL and India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership was not publicly played up and the diplomatic lobbying kept under wraps. .

Net outcome : the regional long term interests of both the AL and the BJP have suffered a major setback. Worse, now India has lost the one friendly regional neighbour in South Asia which was as close to being a dependable ally as possible!

After a decade in power, there was no denying that an unsavoury combination of arrogance and complacency had crept into the AL’s ruling style. Dhaka-based analysts feel that given the Indian media’s normal under reporting of Bangladesh developments/events — the contrast with the obsession shown in India relating to developments in Kashmir or Pakistan was too obvious to need elaboration — it was not surprising that Delhi-based policy makers lacked adequate inputs and information . No wonder the coup that overthrew the AL caught them napping — this despite, some diplomats confidentially reporting that things were going out control, according to sources!

In fact, Dhaka columnists find the present revival of conspiracy theory-based’ explanations of contemporary regional events during the tenure of the present BJP Government in India somewhat hard to understand. There is little doubt, according to a major business daily in Dhaka that India under Mr Modi was a much stronger country that what it was under Mrs Indira Gandhi. Despite her achievements, Mrs Gandhi too often blamed the West, the CIA and other forces when she found the going difficult within India. She did not rule out ‘conspiracies’ taking place in the region.

It was natural of Ms Hasina as a leader robbed of her power to accuse the US of conspiring against her government. The Western bloc of countries did not conceal their opposition to the AL on various issues. But for Indian political leaders/media commentators to toe the same line against the CIA etc was somewhat surprising, implying as it did of a major intelligence failure on part of Delhi, according to one observer..

Much earlier, Ms Hasina had accused the US, of never quite accepting her as a proper elected head of Bangladesh, largely because of her strong nationalist approach — it was always hatching conspiracies against her. Mrs Gandhi, too had defied the mighty US acting more to secure India’s national/regional interests helping the Mukti Bahini create an independent Bangladesh!

Just as details of the running feuds between Ms Hasina and Mrs Hilary Clinton whether over the elections held in Bangladesh or her never ending spat with Dr Yunus are common knowledge in Bangladesh, the parallel with Mrs Gandhi is too obvious to be missed — Indians also know only too well the expletives that both the late Dr Kissinger and Ex US President Mr Nixon liberally used in talking about her or Indians in general. Given this background of the kind of interference that ruling parties in South Asia have to face in the S Asia region from the US, it would be hard to dismiss Ms Hasina’s claim of having to pay the ultimate price for her loyalty to Bangladesh, no matter her present status.

The other parallel .according to sections of the Dhaka press, is the anti-US rhetoric that has brought Ms Hasina and of all people, former Pak ruler Mr Imran Khan, together. Ms Hasina has alleged that the US had offered not to disturb her if she had handed over possession of the small St Martin’s island which Washington planned to develop as a military base. Fearing the long term impact of such a step, she had refused point blank.

Dhaka analysts find her comments remarkably similar to those made by Mr Khan after he lost power in Pakistan, wherein he strongly stressed that he had summarily refused to act on certain matters even as the US was pressuring him! (IPA Service)