BJP’s West Bengal Win Has Added On To Anxiety On India’s Eastern Frontier |
Long before conflicts begin, countries often start arguing about rivers, migrants, borders, and memory. That is what is happening now between India and Bangladesh.
Weeks before a new Indian High Commissioner arrives in Dhaka, a politically significant appointment at a delicate moment in bilateral relations, a familiar current has begun to move through Bangladesh’s public discourse.
Islamist leaders, nationalist politicians, retired military voices, and social-media networks have increasingly amplified allegations that Muslims in India, particularly in Assam and West Bengal, are facing persecution after the Bharatiya Janata Party’s sweeping political ascent in eastern India.
Political rhetoric reflects deeper anxieties
On paper, the statements seem routine enough. Shafiqur Rahman, the leader of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, urged India to ensure that no religious or ethnic community is targeted. Nahid Islam of the National Citizen Party warned darkly that alleged persecution of Muslims in Assam could eventually have repercussions inside Bangladesh itself.
But in South Asia, political rhetoric rarely exists in isolation. It gathers around larger anxieties about identity, sovereignty, and power.
And beneath the immediate controversy lies a more consequential shift — the BJP’s rise in West Bengal has fundamentally changed the strategic balance between Delhi, Kolkata, and Dhaka.
For years, Bangladesh’s relationship with India was buffered by the peculiar mechanics of Indian federal politics. New Delhi could not simply dictate terms on sensitive questions, such as river-water sharing, because the government of West Bengal held enormous leverage. Mamata Banerjee repeatedly blocked agreements on the Teesta River, arguing that North Bengal’s farmers could not afford reduced water flows.
However, with........