The World Cup cricket tournament was held in India. Bangladesh’s cricket-crazy people have not shown much interest in the World Cup cricket game in support of the strike-blockade movement to restore people’s right to vote. An exception was seen on November 19, the day of the final match. The leaders and activists of BNP and like-minded parties went into hiding due to the fear of police brutality, arrests and lathial forces of the ruling party; Extensive vigilance by law and order forces throughout the country including the capital Dhaka and the party nomination purchase of Awami League leaders and activists. Meanwhile, the final game starts at noon at the Ahmedabad Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium. In this competition with Australia, the whole of India joined the cricketers. But cricket lovers do not have any enthusiasm for playing in the neighboring country Bangladesh. Batting first, India did not get the desired runs. India scored only 240 runs and gave the opponent a target of 241 runs. After this news was spread in the media and social media, the cricket lovers of Dhaka and Bangladesh started turning to television. After 8:00 p.m., the crowd of spectators watching the game on TV in markets, haat-bazar shops across the country, including the capital Dhaka, increased. India’s defeat in the game was almost certain and the cricket lovers of Bangladesh became jubilant when Australia was on the way to victory. As Australian batsman Glenn Maxwell played the winning shot and changed ends twice to take the required two runs, the Aussies from the dugout came rushing into the field. Hugging each other, fireworks start the blue sea of yellow. At the same time crores of cricket lovers of Bangladesh burst into cheers. Cricket fans all over the country, including the capital Dhaka, started uproar. A procession took place in various districts of the city including Dhaka University. Many people distributed sweets to celebrate India’s defeat. India’s defeat in World Cup cricket is a fountain of joy among billions of viewers in Bangladesh as the posts, shares, comments and speeches of netizens through social media including Facebook, Twitter (currently X) emerge. The victory of Ajid, a country 7171 kilometers away, does not give Bangladeshi cricket fans a headache; They are happy because India has been defeated. When India’s defeat in the Ahmedabad stadium with a capacity of 130,000 spectators brought tears to the eyes of millions of Indian spectators, the heartbreaking scene appeared on the TV screen. The question is why crores of cricket lovers of Bangladesh are rejoicing in India’s defeat in World Cup cricket? Rejoicing in victory but defeat!
Bangladesh visitors are supposed to support the neighboring Indian team due to regionalism in the game against Australia 7 thousand kilometers away in the World Cup final. The pull of regionalism is supposed to be that. But instead of that, why are you excited about India’s defeat? The reason for this is the grandstanding of the Hindutva Indian government. It is an expression of the intense anger and hatred of the people of Bangladesh against the rulers of India. The people of Bangladesh have no conflict with the people of India. There are villages on the border of the two countries where people from both countries pray in the same mosque. In Tentulia, I saw people on the banks of the river in Bangladesh praying after hearing the call to prayer given in Indian mosques. Lately several border haats are held every week. The people of the two countries meet in the bazaar along with shopping. A border fair is held every year at the border of Thakurgaon. Where people from both sides meet. Met relatives. But billions of people blame the rulers of India for helping to take away the democracy and voting rights of the people of Bangladesh. They feel that the Indian government as a neighbor has developed a relationship with a political party instead of the people of Bangladesh. By this, the people of Banglash have been denied the right to vote. The anger of India’s defeat in World Cup cricket has been expressed in the joy of cricket lovers in Bangladesh.
The pull of regionalism by birth is a human instinct. It can be seen at the international level including village, union, upazila, district, division, country, continent. Bangladesh sports fans support their own team when playing in the international arena. If Bangladesh does not play with countries belonging to other continents, South Asian countries India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and even Afghanistan as neighbors support whoever plays. At one time millions of Bangladeshis were supporters of the Indian cricket team. The pictures of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly still adorn many homes. But due to the grandstanding of the Indian government, that situation is no more. Apart from this, the killing of the border, the suspension of the Teesta water agreement, the Fenindi water agreement and Delhi’s arbitrary transit, seaport facilities have taken all kinds of benefits. Farakka-Ghazaldoba-Tipaimukh and numerous dams and inter-river link projects upstream are turning the country into a desert. Again during the monsoon, Bangladesh is flooded by releasing unlimited water. Such enmity is unprecedented in the world. But the government is mysteriously silent in the international forum! The Prime Minister of Bangladesh once said, ‘I will remember for the rest of my life what I gave to India” as India’s Modi government backed a party from behind the scenes during the polls. The Foreign Minister of Bangladesh said, ‘I have told India that Delhi should do whatever it takes to bring Awami League back to power’. Yesterday, the foreign minister said, ‘We have finished discussing the 12th national parliament election.’ However, at the time of departure from Dhaka, the former High Commissioner of India assigned to Bangladesh, Vikram Kumar Doraiswamy, said, ‘One day Bangladesh-India relations will be considered a role model around the world. India’s relationship with the people of Bangladesh’. On October 16 this year, the spokesperson of India’s Ministry of External Affairs Arindam Bagchi said, ‘India-Bangladesh relations are not with any particular party, but with the people of Bangladesh’. But it does not prove that in present reality. The people of Bangladesh are agitating to regain the right to vote; But India is moving behind the scenes to give support to a party to rig the election. Even before the 12th National Assembly elections, some hired journalists from India have already come to Dhaka and are conducting meetings and seminars. People are angry against India for favoritism towards a political party in Bangladesh and supporting people who take away the people’s right to vote.
India was once known as the largest democratic country in the world. But now he has lost his reputation due to Hinduism. This complaint was raised by the intellectuals of India. After BJP leader Narendra Modi, who was born from RSS, came to power, India’s situation has reached such a level that the country does not have good relations with any neighboring country. China and Pakistan have a snake-like relationship with India. Nepal severed ties long ago. The influence in Bhutan has diminished. Afghanistan has given the Indians a hard time. Sri Lanka, Myanmar are now leaning towards China. Even after the new government came to power in the small country of Maldives, the leader of the Democratic Party, Mohamed Muijju, after taking the oath as the president, announced the ‘withdrawal of Indian troops’ and set a deadline for the withdrawal of Indian troops from the Maldives. Bangladesh-India friendship is said to be at other heights simply because of supporting the current ruling party of Bangladesh.
After breaking the shackles of Pakistan in 1997, Bangladesh is now enslaved by Delhi. It should be decided in Delhi who the people of Bangladesh will vote for in the state power. That evidence was seen in the 2014 elections without candidates and voters. To bring a party to power before the 10th National Assembly elections, Indian Foreign Secretary Sujata Singh came to Dhaka and pressured the Jatiya Party and other parties to participate in the elections. 153 MPs were elected unopposed in that election. In 2018, a debate began over the acceptability of ‘night voting’. The international community, including the United States, did not accept Patano’s election; Then the Government of India made dutiyali in favor of the government elected in the night vote at the international level. Which was not taken well by the common people of Bangladesh. Now the United States has announced a new visa policy aimed at holding fair, impartial, participatory and peaceful elections in Bangladesh. People of Bangladesh expect that. But within the movement to restore voting rights, the Election Commission has announced the schedule for the 12th National Assembly elections. Meanwhile, the foreign secretary of Bangladesh is going on a visit to Delhi. Again, some broker class journalists of India are coming to Dhaka and spreading fabricated news about the elections. Because of these reasons, the people of Bangladesh who lost their right to vote are angry with the ruling class of India. That’s why cricket fans are cheering on India’s defeat in World Cup cricket. The rulers of India should take this anger of the people of neighboring countries into consideration. Otherwise, the oppressed people of Bangladesh will begin to treat the once dominant neighboring country as an enemy state in India. The sooner the rulers of India realize this, the better. ##
