Bangladesh in the Crossfire: Radicalism, Minorities, and a New Political Order

For India, the challenge lies in responding without validating the siege mentality cultivated by Bangladeshi hardliners. For Bangladesh, the stakes are higher still.

The recent statement by Hasnat Abdullah, a leader and Southern Chief Organiser of the newly formed National Citizen Party (NCP), warning that India’s northeastern “Seven Sisters” could be isolated if Bangladesh were “destabilised,” marks more than an outburst of nationalist bravado. It signals a deeper, more troubling shift in Bangladesh’s political and social climate.

Since the political transition that followed the ouster of Sheikh Hasina in August 2024 and the subsequent assumption of authority by Muhammad Yunus, the country has witnessed a hardening of rhetoric, a resurgence of Islamist radical networks, and an alarming escalation of violence against minorities.

Together, these trends are reshaping Bangladesh’s internal order and its posture toward India.

From Political Transition to Ideological Drift

Transitions create vacuums, and Bangladesh’s has been swiftly filled by forces that thrive on grievance and identity politics. The rise of the NCP and the prominence of figures such as Hasnat Abdullah reflect a recalibration of political messaging that increasingly frames domestic instability as the result of external conspiracies, particularly by India.

This narrative resonates with radical groups long hostile to secularism and regional cooperation, allowing them to cloak their agendas in nationalist language.

Analysts at the Institute for Conflict Management, writing in the South Asia Intelligence........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)