First floods, now visas: How anti-India sentiment continues to grow in Bangladesh

Fury against India continues to brew in Bangladesh and it erupted once again on Monday (August 26) at a visa centre in Dhaka when locals voiced their anger over delays and alleged harassment in obtaining visas.

This is another instance of anti-India hatred in the neighbouring country which has come out in the open since the ouster of Sheikh Hasina in early August. Earlier, locals in Bangladesh’s Feni blamed officials in India for releasing water from the dam in Tripura with no warning, resulting in catastrophic flooding in the region.

But what’s going on? Why were there protests inside a visa centre? And why is there so much resentment against India in Bangladesh? We explore.

Endless queues, anger at visa centre

On Monday (August 26), hundreds of Bangladeshis created a ruckus at the Indian Visa Application Centre in Satkhira. The locals began a demonstration after many applicants failed to receive their visas despite waiting in serpentine queues.

Vatara Police Station officer-in-charge Mazharul Islam told New Age that the demonstration started about 10:30 am and the situation was brought under control by 1 pm.

According to the cops present at the scene, people had queued up outside the visa centre to pick up their documents — in a line that was almost one-kilometre-long. However, when the staff at the centre told them that there was a delay in the processing of visas, the locals got angry and began chanting slogans. “Indian collaborators, beware… One point, one demand — we want a visa,” the group could be heard chanting.

Rustam Ali, one of the demonstrators, expressed his frustration to the Dhaka Tribune. He was quoted as telling the Bangladeshi daily, “Getting an Indian visa has become a matter of luck. You can’t apply again unless two months have passed since your last attempt. The application fee is Tk875, and while the visa is supposed to be issued within 15 days, it often takes two-three months, and even then, the visa doesn’t arrive, nor is the passport returned.”

He said that he needed to go to India for medical reasons. Many Bangladeshis travel to India for medical and educational purposes. India’s healthcare system offers specialised treatments, surgeries, and healthcare services at a relatively affordable cost compared to other countries. However, the Bangladesh tumult has affected the outflow of people from Bangladesh to India.

Another local also voiced his outrage at the situation. “I submitted my passport three months ago, but now it has been returned without a visa. They don’t even provide a reason for the refusal. On top of that, the staff at the visa office treats us with rudeness. If there’s even a slight mistake, they throw the passport book back at us,” he told Dhaka Tribune.

While no damage was caused at the centre, the employees were shaken up. The situation prompted the Indian High Commission to take up the matter with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Dhaka. They stated in their diplomatic note that while there was no vandalism or any physical assault, staff members at the visa centre panicked and felt threatened making it difficult for them to continue even with limited services.

Notably, the protest at the Satkhira visa processing centre comes at a time when “limited operations” have resumed. It was two weeks ago that Indian visa application centre announced the resumption of limited operations in its Dhaka centre. This came after centres had shut down due to the unstable situation after the fall of the Hasina-led Awami League government.

Also read: New clashes break out in Dhaka: Why are Bangladeshis protesting even after Sheikh Hasina’s ouster?

Flood fury

This protest at the visa processing centre comes at a time when anti-India sentiment is high. Earlier in the week, Bangladeshis expressed ire and fury at India after claims emerged that the flood situation in east Bangladesh was owing to the release of waters from a dam on Gumti River in Tripura.

Nahid Islam, one of the two student representatives in Bangladesh’s interim government headed by Peace Nobel Laureate economist Muhammad Yunus, had told journalists: “India displayed inhumanity by opening the dam without warning.”

Volunteers carry an ill child to a hospital amid severe flooding in the Chhagalnaiya area, in Feni, Bangladesh. Reuters

In a separate Facebook post, he wrote: “The generation that understands India as our enemy is made of the best children of the nation.” It is an often-repeated quotation from one of Bangladesh’s legendary politicians, the late Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, one of the first Bangladeshi politicians to allege that India was depriving Bangladesh of waters from transboundary rivers, reports The Diplomat.

Such was the fury that some Bangladeshis wading through waist-deep waters could be heard shouting, “We hate India” and “This is Indian water.”

India has denied the claim with the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal saying: “We have seen concerns being expressed in Bangladesh that the current situation of flood in districts on the eastern borders of Bangladesh has been caused by the opening of the Dumbur dam upstream of the Gumti River in Tripura.”

Jaiswal labelled the social media chatter as factually incorrect and pointed out that the flood in Bangladesh was due to large catchments downstream of the dam. The catchment areas of the Gumti River, which flows through both India and Bangladesh, experienced the heaviest rainfall of the year in recent days.

He further stated that because of the heavy rainfall in Tripura and the adjoining districts of Bangladesh, “automatic releases have been observed”.

‘India Out’ sentiment on the rise

Though India’s neighbour, Bangladesh, in recent times, has exhibited some strong resentment towards New Delhi. It began in January when Sheikh Hasina led her party, the Awami League, to victory in the elections. This sparked the opposition to start a campaign on social media calling for a boycott of Indian goods.

A flag-seller stands on the periphery of a memorial site, overlooking the tainted mural of first president of Bangladesh Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on the pier of a metro line, days after the anti-government protests that ousted then prime minister Sheikh Hasina, near Dhaka University. PTI

Many of Hasina’s opponents at the time believed that India used its influence to make US President Joe Biden adopt a more agreeable position on Hasina. “There is a growing perception that Hasina has remained in power by rigging elections because of India’s meddling and support,” Shama Obaid, an organising secretary of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the main opposition, told The Hindu Frontline.

This anti-India feeling was further exacerbated after Hasina’s downfall. The fact that the former prime minister was provided shelter in India following her fleeing the nation has unsettled many. As one university student told The Print, “India has given shelter to Hasina, knowing what she did with her people. It makes us think that India is complicit. She tortured the students, rigged elections, got all opposition leaders arrested and India was the first to congratulate her. Why?”

Abdul Moyeen Khan, a Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader, speaking on the same, said: “Bangladeshi are not angry, but hurt, wounded… as they never expected this.”

Furthermore, the portrayal of the student movement as an issue of minority repression by some Indian media outlets has irked Bangladeshis. AB Siddiqui, a retired professional, told The Print that what irked them was the fact that a few Indian media outlets had covered the protest movement as an attack on Hindu minorities, a “genocide”, while in reality, the protests were for the rights of all Bangladeshi citizens and had nothing to do with religion.

However, Muhammad Yunus, the leader of the interim government, in Bangladesh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have spoken to one another and vowed to work closely with one another. In fact, on August 14, Bangladesh Foreign Affairs Advisor Touhid Hossain said the interim government wants to work closely with India to promote bilateral relations. He also underlined the commitment to ensure peaceful coexistence of different communities in Bangladesh including the minorities.

With inputs from agencies