In the wake of Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s (BNP) sweeping win in the country’s 13th general elections, India’s former envoy to Dhaka, Veena Sikri, has voiced concerns over the polls’ legitimacy while praising New Delhi’s balanced approach. Speaking exclusively, Sikri highlighted India’s emphasis on elections that are not just conducted but truly representative.
PM Narendra Modi’s prompt felicitations to BNP chief Tarique Rahman on X, followed by a call, signal India’s readiness to work with the victors. Yet, Sikri stressed a fundamental caveat: ‘No election is democratic unless it’s free, fair, and brings everyone along.’
The Yunus-led interim administration, which orchestrated the vote, was slammed as unconstitutional—a stopgap born of political upheaval rather than electoral mandate. The 18-month interregnum sans Awami League saw minorities brutalized relentlessly. Homes ransacked, lives lost, enterprises ruined; the trauma ran deep, instilling terror that deterred participation.
Women’s plight was dire: rampant assaults, enforced dress codes, moral policing against cultural symbols like bindis. This bred widespread anger and instability, prompting hasty polls that Sikri deemed exclusionary and thus untrustworthy. She accused Western backers of propping it up, aware of Jamaat-e-Islami’s puppet-master role via Pakistani conduits.
Jamaat, per Sikri, hijacked institutions wholesale—purging and installing ideologues across judiciary, academia, and administration to rig outcomes through blatant vote manipulation. Their win seemed assured amid Islamist fervor, including past Sharia pushes later withdrawn under American arm-twisting.
Sikri interpreted BNP’s success as a democratic pushback against this radicalism, a unifying front for progressives. Sheikh Hasina’s era, by contrast, built India-Bangladesh bonhomie on mutual security respect, spurring economic boom. Yunus’s anti-India tilt reversed these gains, plunging the economy into crisis and alienating voters who pinned blame on him and Jamaat.
India has championed inclusive democracy vociferously. Modi’s message to Rahman positions Bangladesh as a forward-looking nation, implicitly calling to reinstate Awami League. Sikri anticipates the new government prioritizing economic revival, necessitating strong Indian partnerships for sustainable growth.