After Padma bridge milestone, Sheikh Hasina faces challenges at home and abroad

Amid rising attacks on progressives and prevailing religious sensitivities, the PM is likely to seek India’s support and Opposition BNP’s participation to transform Bangladesh into a more evolved democracy

The festivities associated with the Rath Yatra commenced in Bangladesh on Saturday, with a large rally in Dhaka and similar programmes in different parts of the country.

The heavily-guarded Rath Yatra events are being held following the pandemic-induced hiatus of two years and the Durga puja attacks of last October. The occasion was mildly dented by an attack on a leading playwright Dr. Ratan Siddique, who was roughed up by a gathering outside his house in the northern part of the capital Dhaka.

The crowd accused Mr. Siddique of being an “atheist” and raised pro-Pakistan slogans before the police arrived on the scene and resolved the tense situation. The incident brought back memories of attacks against atheist bloggers during 2013-16. Bangladesh Udichi Shilpigoshthi, the largest progressive cultural organisation of the country, protested against the attack as Dr. Siddique is a noted member of the organisation.

The nine-day long Rath Yatra festivity by the minority Hindu community is a significant symbolic event as the minorities of Bangladesh constitute a solid support base for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government. The celebration and the mob attack on Dr. Siddique point to the political challenges that PM Hasina will have to deal with in the coming months.

Sheikh Hasina’s 13-year-old government reached a major milestone with the inauguration of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge on June 25. The self-financed bridge — constructed by the China Major Bridge Engineering Co. Ltd — is the biggest connectivity project for the country and has emerged as a sign of the new-found economic confidence of Bangladesh in the world stage. The timely completion of the project comes ahead of her visit to the U.S. to attend the UN General Assembly and other world capitals in September.

The visit to the United Nations will highlight Prime Minister Hasina’s agenda in the multilateral venues where she requires major powers to show greater appreciation of the difficulties that her government has been facing in dealing with the Rohingya crisis since 2017. In recent months, there have been silent hints that Bangladesh may require India’s support also as a fellow democracy from South Asia — in dealing with critics of her government.

This requirement was felt on June 8 when the U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas in an unusual move visited the Chief Election Commissioner, Kazi Habibul Awal, in the latter’s office and called for a “credible election”. “I will repeat again as I have said before that the U.S. doesn’t care who wins the election, we just want an election where the people of Bangladesh can choose who their leaders are,” said Ambassador Haas after the meeting. Before that the European Union too had called for a “credible, transparent and inclusive” election in the country that is expected to head to the polls next year.