What Is Happening in Bangladesh? A Proxy Power Struggle Explained
- Background: The Fall of Sheikh Hasina in 2024
- Student Protests and the Question of External Support
- Sheikh Hasina’s Tilt Towards China and U.S. Discomfort
- Global Power Blocs and the Logic of Proxy Wars
- China, India, and the New Unrest in Bangladesh
- Was the Killing of Sharif Osman Hadi the Real Trigger?
- Bangladesh as a Battleground of U.S.–China Rivalry
- Who Ultimately Pays the Price? The Suffering of Ordinary Bangladeshis
Justice Markandey Katju analyses the political unrest in Bangladesh, linking Sheikh Hasina’s fall and current protests to a larger proxy conflict between the United States and China, and warns of prolonged instability and public suffering...
What is happening in Bangladesh ?
By Justice Markandey Katju
These days, much is being said about recent developments in Bangladesh. There are varying theories and analyses about them by many persons, most of which I find totally superficial. Hence, I am presenting my own view.
There was an agitation last year, mainly by Bangladeshi students, against the then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, which led to her downfall in August 2024. My own understanding is that the American government was behind this agitation. Let me explain.
No doubt there were many genuine grievances among Bangladeshis due to Sheikh Hasina's despotism and authoritarianism, and particularly among Bangladeshi students due to the quota system which greatly reduced prospects of employment, etc.
But a countrywide agitation of this nature requires huge funds and other things. Who would be supplying this?
Sheikh Hasina was tilting towards China, details of which are given in this link,
This must have alarmed US government circles and made them hostile to Sheikh Hasina. It is therefore logical to believe that the US government supported the students' agitation by secretly providing funds and other material to it.
This led to Sheikh Hasina's resignation on 5th August 2024, and flight to India, and the installation of a pro-US regime.
There are two hostile alliances in the world today: (1) the US-Europe alliance (2) the China-Russia alliance. They are not fighting each other militarily, as both have nuclear weapons, but through proxies.
China has become the second superpower in the world today, and it is a neighbour of Bangladesh. Hence the Chinese leaders would naturally be upset that Bangladesh is becoming pro-American. It is therefore reasonable to believe that China is behind the present agitation in Bangladesh, which is anti-Indian ( and therefore pro-Chinese since China and India are hostile to each other ).
It is said that the present agitation was caused by the killing of Sharif Osman Hadi, an anti-Indian youth activist
But is it reasonable to believe that the death of one man would result in country-wide protests of this nature? My own opinion is that Hadi's killing was only the spark which ignited the fuel, not the fuel itself ( just as the killing of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in 1914 was only the spark which ignited the fuel resulting in World War 1, the fuel itself being the struggle between the Anglo-French alliance and the German-Austrian alliance for redivision of colonies in the world ).
Such countrywide protests in Bangladesh obviously required funding and other support. Who could provide that except a powerful country like China, which was anti-American?
There is still a lot of confusion in Bangladesh, and my own assessment is that this will continue for a long time. Bangladesh has become the battleground of a proxy war between the USA and China, using their local Bangladeshi agents. The people of Bangladesh will, unfortunately, suffer in this proxy war of the two superpowers.
(Justice Markandey Katju is a former Judge of the Supreme Court of India, and former Chairman, of the Press Council of India. The views expressed are his own.)
