Concerns have deepened after Friday’s Bangladesh poll results showed hardliner Jamaat-e-Islami and its allies winning many of their 68 seats in areas bordering India. The total tally is Jamaat’s highest in over 25 years.Jamaat’s historical and ideological proximity with Pakistan raises the risks for India, a peril flagged by BJP. The saffron party had bagged in 2021 more than 16 Bengal assembly constituencies that share borders with the areas of Bangladesh where Jamaat has made inroads. “Bangladesh is a different country. We expect the newly formed govt to maintain law and order and ensure minorities will not be persecuted. But Jamaat’s victory along the border is worrying.
It clearly shows there has been strong radicalisation on both sides of the border,” Union minister Sukanta Majumdar of BJP said.South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, Nadia, Murshidabad, Malda and Alipurduar are among the Bengal districts that share borders with Bangladesh zones where Jamaat has come up trumps. Broadly, Jamaat has put its footprint on much of western Bangladesh, including Satkhira, Mymensingh, Rajshahi, Rangpur and Gaibandha.
Functionaries of exiled former PM Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League indicated that Jamaat, banned earlier, started spreading its influence over the past year. “Jamaat is a radical outfit which believes in hardlines which was never acceptable to democratic parties like Awami League. Unfortunately, they spread their organisation during the tenure of the interim govt,” said Salim Mahmud, former Awami League MP of Chandpur (1).In the 2001 election, Jamaat won 17 seats. In 2008, it was reduced to two. In 2013, Jamaat’s registration was cancelled by Bangladesh’s Supreme Court. While Hasina banned Jamaat, the interim govt lifted it in 2024.
