Bangladesh media trying to whip up anti-India sentiment on Hasina’s call for boycott of upcoming elections

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, October 31, 2025

The ‘Godi’ media of Bangladesh has unleashed a campaign to whip up anti-India sentiment further in the troubletorn country in the wake of exiled prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s call to her party , banned Awami League , for boycotting the upcoming elections to the National Assembly (counterpart of India’s Lok Sabha) slated to come off in February next year. She made the call in interviews with three foreign media , Reuters (USA), AFP (France) and The Independent, a London based newspaper. The interviews had been given in the form of answers to questions from the media houses submitted in advance as Hasina had refused to speak face to face with the media representatives, presumably at the directive of the government of India that has been hosting her as a VIP guest in an undisclosed location for security purposes. She described the performance of the incumbent interim government of Bangladesh as ‘horribly anti-people’ and said that no free and fair election is possible under this illegitimate regime specially after a ban has been imposed on her party the Awami League. There were other crucial issues that Sheikh Hasina raised in the course of her conversation with the representatives of the media houses but the boycott call has emerged as the major issue now.

The Bangladesh media which is effectively under total government control is playing up Hasina’s interview and boycott call as yet another instance of India trying to arm-twist the interim government on a number of issues. “Without prior approval from the government of India Hasina could not have given the interviews on the basis of pre-submitted questions ; since the government of India and Hasina have realized that her party has no future in the country in the foreseeable future, effort is on to subvert the democracy in Banglaldesh” one media outlet blared out in print. The dull tutored coverage of events in Bangladesh media is now trying to target India for the all the ills and evils under the illegitimate interim regime including even natural disasters like flood, drought , earthquake and tornado.

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the largest party in the country, next to banned Awami League, has firmly opposed any move to hold a referendum in the country on ‘July charter’ before the elections to the National Assembly in February 2026. Realising that the political going is getting tough, a number of Islamist parties including the Jamat-e-Islami and the Yunus sponsored National Citizens Party (NCP) have called for an unnecessary referendum on the so-called ‘July Charter’ before the elections in February 2026. But the BNP secretary general Mirz Fakhrul Alamgir has ruled this out firmly , asserting that no referendum or election can take precedence over the upcoming National Assembly elections. This should be held first to elect a legitimate government but Fakhrul’s assertion and BNP’s stand appear to be precipitating a showdown between BNP and the fundamentalist opposition signaling troubled days for Bangladesh in the run-up to the National Assembly polls.

more news...