Former envoy to Bangladesh Shringla flags Jamaat's rise after student wing's poll win

New Delhi: The student's wing of Bangladesh's radical Jamaat-e-Islami has for the first time since the country's independence swept Dhaka University elections, a development that may give legitimacy to Islamists and have implications for India as well as the sub-continent.

Islami Chattra Shibir's win carries symbolic weight. Known for its violent legacy, the organisation had hijacked the student protest movement in the country last year that led to the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina-led government. Its victory will embolden pro-Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) ahead of national elections in Bangladesh early next week.

In the university elections, Islami Chattra Shibir candidates won 23 of 28 posts. The student wing of Sheikh Hasina's Awami League did not contest the polls. The results are a major setback for the student wing of former prime minister Khaleda Zia's BNP, which termed the election a "planned manipulation".


At a seminar on Bangladesh elections at Delhi's India International Centre this week, former union culture secretary Jawahar Sircar referred to the corruption of the Awami League regime while noted Bangladesh expert Sreeradha Dutta suggested that India must deal with any party that is in power in Dhaka. Addressing the seminar, Rajya Sabha MP and former envoy to Bangladesh Harsh V Shringla called for fair and inclusive elections in Bangladesh.

Shringla also reminded the audience of Jamaat-e-Islami's role during the Liberation War, when it was accused of atrocities, including genocide against Hindus, in collaboration with the Pakistan Army. "They have blood on their hands and they are also a part of the Muslim Brotherhood. The same Muslim Brotherhood that exists in Egypt, Turkey and different parts of the world," he added.

Earlier, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor called Islami Chattra Shibir's victory a worrying portent for Bangladesh's political trajectory and for India's relations with its neighbour.