[ALOCHONA] DELHI HAS GOT NO GREAT EXPECTATION

DELHI HAS GOT NO GREAT EXPECTATION Hasina invites Pronab Mukherjee to oath taking ceremony   Kolkata's largely circulated Bengali daily newspaper Anandabazar Patrika (ABP) has reported on December 31 that Sheikh Hasina has invited Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee to remain present in her oath taking ceremony in Dhaka.    According to the ABP report, the grand alliance leader and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina has made a phone call to the Foreign Minister of India Pronab Mukherjee requesting him to remain present at the oath taking ceremony of her next government.    This was reported in the (ABP) in its 31st December issue, which this correspondent retrieved from Internet. The ABP correspondent Joyanta Ghosal reported from New Delhi, quoting a source at South Block (India's foreign ministry), that the Manmohan Singh government did not want to go ahead with any great expectation about Bangladesh although the grand alliance of Sheikh Hasina won a great victory.    The report states that Sheikh Hasina means the past illusion of liberation war particularly to the people of West Bengal. The report probably for the first time prefixed the word 'Bangabandhu' before the name of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and said: "Yet the Bangalee Foreign Minister of India does not want to go by emotion, though the daughter of 'Bangabandhu' Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is poised to come to power."    ABP report says that after her victory in the election Sheikh Hasina called the Bangalee Foreign Minister of India, "Dada, you will have to come to participate in the oath taking ceremony (of my government) with Boudi." But the Foreign Minister of India has not yet decided whether he will attend the oath taking ceremony in Dhaka, though he will surely visit Bangladesh before the elections of Lok Sabha, the report added.    Several years ago when Pronob Babu switched his responsibility from Defence Minister to Foreign Minister, the Foreign Minister of the BNP government was the first among the foreign countries who sent him the congratulatory message, the report said. The report added that India had invited Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed to participate in the SAARC Conference after the installation of the Caretaker Government (CG) of Bangladesh to power.    The report said that, at that time a journalist, who is close to Hasina, asked a question to this correspondent as to why India was not coming forward in support of Sheikh Hasina openly in such a restive situation. India did not do that. On the other hand, Foreign Minister Pronab Mukherjee went to visit Bangladesh with relief materials.    During that visit it was seen that Pronob Babu was repeatedly informing the CG about matters of mutual concern and he never wanted to poke his nose into the internal politics of Dhaka. As Pronab Babu says: "This is 2008, not 1971. At that time what India did that was the necessity of the given circumstances. Now the situation has changed."    The ABP report further said: "Now India's stance is, India would establish relations with whoever comes to power in the sovereign neighbouring country. Even Delhi can not say that "it would not keep relationship if military rule is imposed in any neighbouring country."    The report pointed out that once Indian premier Pundit Nehru opened dialogue with Field Marshal Ayub Khan of Pakistan. Indira Gandhi was compelled to initiate talks with Gen. Ziaul Haque after the hanging of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Again Atal Bihari Bazpayee gave democratic recognition to Parvez Musharraf by according him red carpet reception at the Agra Summit just after the wounds of Kargil war. Atal Bihari Vajpayee government also maintained good relations with Bangladesh during the rule of Khaleda Zia, and continued bilateral relations.    The report recalled that during the SAARC conference in Katmandhu, Khaleda Zia listened to Vajpayee's prescription for curing her knee pain. Again Brojesh Misra did not hesitate to visit Dhaka to warn about terrorist activities against India."    The report stated: "Pranob Babu, a follower of Indira Gandhi, knows Sheikh Hasina personally for a long time." It is doubtless that Sheikh Hasina has an image of a 'daughter of the same household' to New Delhi and West Bengal. It is obviously easy for India to go for diplomatic negotiations with the same much known 'daughter of Mujib'. But the Foreign Minister i.e. Indian government is aware of the limitations of the future government of Dhaka.    The report further said in the past Hasina had to pay a heavy price for her 'friend of India image', when she was in power. Hasina also learnt a lesson from her past experience. This time Jatiya Party of Ershad is the ally of Sheikh Hasina's Awami League, if Jamaat-e-Islami is the ally of Khaleda Zia's BNP. Like the Jamaat-e-Islami, the Jatiya Party also announced that they would introduce blasphemy law in their party manifesto. And it was Ershad who declared Islam as the State religion when he was in power. As a result the other religious communities became second class citizens.    The report further added: "Sheikh Mujibur Rahman wanted to lead the country towards the path of secularism. Delhi is doubtful about the ability of the 'daughter of Mujib' to renounce the influence of the fundamentalist forces, when the party of Ershad is her ally. Jatiya Party of Ershad also bagged 27 seats; so it will have some kind of control. Besides, there will be a control from the cantonment, whoever may come to power, under the given political situation of Bangladesh.    Sheikh Hasina is also not beyond the control of the military, though she is not like Khaleda. Keeping all these in mind India wants to strengthen the relations with Bangladesh because of recent conflict with Pakistan. The objective is that Pakistan can not use Bangladesh as the field of its anti-India activities. Referring to the act of terrorism on the soil of Bangladesh Pronab Babu has made it crystal clear. He said, "The problem will be raised when new government will be installed. Let us see how far we can achieve."    The Ananada Bazar Patrika report further stated: "This was the only hope of Delhi that the military and Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh have not been strengthened as in Pakistan." This time it is also clear in the elections' result. The military wanted a fragile government. People have voted en-masse in favour of the alliance of Sheikh Hasina. The Jamaat-e-Islami has become obscure as it is seen in the results of the votes. Yet it is not that the extreme forces of the party of Ershad would try to hold the country inside 'veils'. Will Hasina be able to complete the trial of the killers of Sheikh Mujib by neglecting those extreme forces? Will Hasina be able to chant the slogans of development by discarding the anti-Indian card, when Norendra Modi is not stepping back from demolishing temple in the interest of development ? South Block is waiting to see that."   http://www.weeklyholiday.net/front.html#07

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