Sheikh Hasina Wazed has become the Prime Minister of Bangladesh for the fifth time. Immediately after her Awami League Party won the Parliamentary Elections held on January 7, 2024, neighbouring India and other countries congratulated Hasina for creating history. This warmth is expected, as peace is likely to return to the South Asian country with the end of uncertainty and anxiety surrounding the election. It seems that Sheikh Hasina will try to boost ties with India and other neighbouring countries during her fifth term as the Prime Minister. The way she has been leading Bangladesh for nearly three decades in the face of a huge challenge is indeed a great historical achievement for her. Not only Bangladesh, but the entire South Asia should be grateful to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for maintaining (regional) stability.

Hasina’s victory in the recently held election has brought a great relief for India. India might not have felt comfortable had an unfriendly ruler or a hard-line Islamic Government come to power in a neighbouring country with which it shares 4,100km-long border. As five eastern Indian provinces, West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram, share borders with Bangladesh, it is expected that New Delhi’s good understanding with Dhaka, especially on security-related issues, shall remain intact for the next five years under Hasina’s leadership.

However, there is also a cause of concern. This time, the Awami League won 223 out of 300 Parliamentary seats. As no Opposition parties took part in the election, all those 77 people who defeated Awami League candidates were independent candidates. Interestingly, almost all of them were expelled from the Awami League in the past. In other words, the ruling party and its aggrieved group had contested the polls. Naturally, this issue shall haunt Hasina’s Government, despite the smooth conclusion of the polls.

In South Asia, the single-party rule or a Military Government in the pretext of Democracy is a common phenomenon. It is, therefore, impossible to ignore the nature of Democracy in Bangladesh. The US and some European countries have already started discussing this issue. This is exactly what the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the main Opposition party, wants. The BNP has not been participating in elections for the last few years in order to raise questions about the legitimacy of the Hasina Administration. Hasina and her Awami League are seemingly quite concerned about this in the post-election situation, in spite of their electoral success.

Geopolitically, Bangladesh has become quite important for the West (and also for India). Bangladesh is no longer an insignificant country in the larger scheme of dealing with Islamic terrorism and instability in West Asia on the one hand, and China’s hegemonic establishment and expansion projects on the other.

Under Hasina’s leadership, the South Asian nation has made fast progress in various indicators of Human Development Index (even faster than that of India) in recent years. Hasina is well aware of the fact that a slight deviation from the Principles of Democracy may not trigger a global crisis in the near future. However, she might have to face an internal crisis, if she does not let Democracy follow its own course.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das