India’s ‘March of Folly’ in Bangladesh

Fake news spread by online Hindutva trolls both reflects and influences New Delhi’s attitudes, heightening communal tension between the neighbors.
Commentary by Jon Danilowicz
2025.01.22
India’s ‘March of Folly’ in Bangladesh Members and supporters of Shiv Sena Taksali, a right-wing Indian organization, burn an effigy of Muhammad Yunus, chief adviser of Bangladesh, to protest alleged attacks on that country’s Hindu minority, in the northern Indian city of Amritsar, Dec. 27, 2024.
Narinder Nanu/AFP

My first encounter with India’s global Hindu nationalist online army of trolls, which began after Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to flee during a popular uprising, opened my eyes to its tactics and methods.  

India had long supported Hasina and reflexively agreed to provide her refuge when she departed Dhaka on short notice Aug. 5.

Soon after, New Delhi began to express concerns about alleged violence against Bangladesh’s Hindu minority since her departure. These assertions along with online disinformation continued despite a number of independent fact-checking groups challenging these reports.

Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh’s interim government leader, said he informed India that there had been some violence but denied it was communal.

The Yunus administration has reiterated its interest in maintaining good relations with India, but also expressed concern about the disinformation emanating from Indian sources.

Still, Indian media members – most of whom now ask “how high” when the Modi government asks them to jump – have amplified  these concerns. And they have added charges that the Yunus government has empowered Islamic extremist forces in Bangladesh while cozying up to Pakistan.   

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (right) shakes hands with then-Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina upon her arrival at the G20 Summit center in New Delhi, Sept. 9, 2023. [Evan Vucci/Pool/via Reuters]

Both reflecting and influencing attitudes in the Indian establishment, right-wing Hindutva groups in India and abroad have launched an aggressive disinformation campaign aimed at undermining Bangladesh’s interim government and influencing policy in foreign capitals. 

This army comprises a legion of keyboard warriors in India and abroad – often referred to as “Internet Hindus” – who are devotees mainly of Narendra Modi’s BJP government in New Delhi and its ethno-nationalist political ideology of Hindutva.

Its singular mission is to spread bigotry – and often, cause violence – by asserting Hindutva, an ideology which propounds that India is synonymous with the Hindu religion and ought to be a Hindu state rather than the constitutionally secular one it is.

The Hindutva army’s campaign includes posting fake news and photographs of so-called anti-Hindu violence in Bangladesh, keeping tension between the two neighbors at a boiling point.

Accused of ‘being an anti-India agent’

As a vocal critic of the former Hasina regime’s increasing authoritarianism, I welcomed the Aug. 5 change in government.   

This made me a prime target of the Hindutva right-wing, which has labeled me an enabler of “genocide” and accused me of being an anti-India agent of the “deep state.”   

I have also been falsely charged with being on the payroll of some of Bangladesh’s political parties and become the subject of other vile rumors and innuendos.   

While some might opt to ignore these attacks or disengage, my approach has been to expose their lies and methods and counter disinformation with facts.  In doing so, I have found a small but like-minded and supportive online community.

Hasina’s defenders have recycled their standard claims that she was all that was standing in the way of an Islamic takeover of Bangladesh. This despite the reality that more conservative Islamic parties have never enjoyed voters’ widespread support. 

This campaign has sought to divert attention from the allegations of corruption and abuse of power that had been leveled against Hasina and her allies.

It has instead focused on creating a false narrative that Hasina was removed as the result of a foreign regime-change operation orchestrated by shadowy “deep state” operatives in the United States, Pakistan and elsewhere. 

This narrative was intended, in part, to win support from Donald Trump during his presidential campaign. 

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Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (left) shakes hands with Bangladesh interim leader Muhammad Yunus during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the D-8 summit in Cairo, Dec. 19, 2024. [Pakistan’s Press Information Department via AFP]

Disinformation regarding an alleged Hindu “genocide” in Bangladesh makes it more difficult to identify actual incidents of violence and hold those responsible to account.  

Ongoing Indian pressure has provoked a strong backlash within Bangladesh, with one popular online commentator starting an “India Out” campaign that has generated significant popular support.   

In this environment, moderate voices have been drowned out by those calling for a harder line on India.   

Pakistan and China have stepped into the breach to embrace Bangladesh’s new government, ramping up diplomatic, military and commercial engagement.

The Modi government needs to rein in the Hindutva troll army because this dangerous campaign  heightens communal tension between the two neighbors.  

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A retired army officer reads martyrs’ names during an event on the occasion of “Vijay Diwas,” commemorated annually to mark the victory of the Indian armed forces over Pakistan in the 1971 Bangladesh independence war, at the Eastern Command headquarters in Fort William, in Kolkata, India, Dec. 16, 2023. [Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP]

Meanwhile, the actions taken by the Indian government, the media and foreign policy establishment, and the right-wing Hindutva groups have fed anti-India sentiment within Bangladesh, particularly among those who participated in the pro-democracy movement.  

This sentiment has led to deadly violence with a prosecutor hacked to death in Bangladesh amid huge protests against a Hindu leader’s arrest. 

While the tough stance against Bangladesh’s interim government may advance domestic political interests, it is hard to see how it advances India’s diplomatic objectives.  

India’s foreign policy toward Bangladesh post-Aug. 5 reminds me of American Pulitzer-winning historian Barbara Tuchman’s detailing of the “March of Folly” paradox, about governments acting against their own interest.   

Still, I believe that there is an opportunity for India and Bangladesh to avoid a “lose-lose” outcome.   

Starting at the top, both governments should send a message to their supporters that the two neighbors could both benefit from a new start. 

This would help citizens on both sides and make it easier for their international partners to work towards advancing common interests in a free and open Indo-Pacific.  

Jon Danilowicz is a retired U.S. Department of State senior Foreign Service officer with extensive experience in South Asia. During his diplomatic career he undertook three stints in Dhaka, including service as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. embassy. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect the position of the U.S. Department of State or BenarNews.

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COMMENTS

mohd. islam
Jan 22, 2025 06:25 PM

this article is a fake propaganda piece with utter lies and nonsense, clearly organized and endorsed by the deep state

habib jehan
Jan 22, 2025 06:26 PM

fake news