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Narendra Modi and India will be unpopular with the new Bangladeshi government; a new generation of students will be kingmakers: from Dhaka, Barrister Aneek Haque, to Karan Thapar for The Wire. In an interview recorded literally as news was breaking that Sheikh Hasina has resigned, her government has fallen and that she has fled the country, one of Bangladesh’s recognized voices, Barrister Aneek Haque, has said that Narendra Modi and India will be unpopular with the new Bangladeshi government. He said the students who had risen like a powerful peoples movement against the Hasina regime view her as India’s puppet. They have grave and deep reservations about the close affinity between the Modi government and Sheikh Hasina as well as about the Modi government’s treatment of its own 200 million Muslim citizens. As jubilation and celebration broke out spontaneously on the streets of Dhaka and other cities of Bangladesh, Barrister Haque said he believes a two-stage process is likely in terms of government formation. First, there will be an interim government and he does not believe the student movement will seek to be a part of it. However, shortly thereafter there will be full free democratic elections and he does believe that the students who led this revolt will play a prominent part in that election as well as the new regime that comes to power thereafter. As he put it, they may not be kings but they will be the kingmakers. This interview conveys a sense of the enormity and the excitement of what is happening in Bangladesh through the eyes of the one of the country’s most observant viewers. If you want to understand what has happened and how the people of Bangladesh feel, I strongly recommend you see this interview. Join The Wire's Youtube Membership and get exclusive content, member-only emojis, live interaction with The Wire's founders, editors and reporters and much more. Memberships to The Wire Crew start at Rs 89/month.
