An India Out campaign gives the beleaguered Bangladesh Nationalist Party a chance at resurgence

Days after the general election in Bangladesh this January, Pinaki Bhattacharya, a Bangladeshi physician, video blogger and provocateur, urged his online followers to boycott Indian products. Bhattacharya, who relocated to Paris after he was allegedly targeted by Bangladesh’s military intelligence, runs a massively successful YouTube channel. He claimed that calling for “India Out” was a show of defiance and resistance against India’s hegemony over Bangladesh – and, more explicitly, against its support for the ruling Awami League.

In the election, the Awami League and its leader, Sheikh Hasina, swept back into power after the biggest opposition party – the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)– boycotted the vote following a crackdown in which hundreds of its members were arrested. Hasina’s Awami League government enjoys substantial support from the Indian regime. This was  evident when India, which assumed the G20 presidency for 2023, invited Bangladesh to the summit. This was the first time Bangladesh received a G20 invite and was the only Southasian country included. In the run-up to the election, New Delhi backed Hasina’s government by opposing international criticism of its tactics and by lobbying for continuity of government in Bangladesh with the United States for security and economic reasons. The Indian prime minister Narendra Modi also offered enthusiastic congratulations to Hasina after her re-election.