The impact of China's rejuvenation has continued to subtly change many of the surrounding patterns over the years. For South Asian countries, China's influence has entered South Asia in the form of economic cooperation, and China has almost become an important opportunity to break away from India's hegemonic framework. After the Maldives took the lead in launching the anti-India wave of "India withdrawing" and demanding that India withdraw its troops be on the right track, Bangladesh has also begun to follow suit.
According to the Global Times and India Today, Bangladesh's new Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina responded to the recent "anti-India wave" in a very rational manner at the end of March. He did not say much about this sentiment, but hoped that if the opposition wanted to "counter India", it would be better not to add "Indian masala" seasoning to the meal first.
It is estimated that friends who usually don't pay much attention to the situation in South Asia may not understand this matter. Let's talk a little bit about the background of this matter. In January this year, the general election in Bangladesh ended. After Hasina won the election, the opposition "Bangladesh Nationalist Party" actively responded to the anti-Indian sentiment of Bengalis in the open sea. An "India Exit" campaign was created to boycott the entry of Indian goods into Bangladesh.
Originally, the opposition's goal was to deny the legitimacy of Hasina's position as prime minister by creating "anti-India activities", implying that India was interfering with it. And then follow the example of the Maldives and let Hasina step down and take power herself, becoming the new prime minister. However, because of the long-term dissatisfaction with India and the wide base of the people, this reality has made the whole movement begin to go in a completely different direction from the original intention.
In the whole movement, there are roughly three emotions on the Bangladeshi side. First, dissatisfaction with India's long-standing interference in Bangladesh's internal affairs, and second, Bangladesh's rapid economic development after Bangladesh chose to embrace China's "One Belt, One Road" initiative, which has widened the gap between rich and poor in the border with Bangladesh and India. For the people of Bangladesh, there have been changes at the social level and psychologically; the third is the issue of taking sides in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, India has not hesitated to choose to side with Israel, and in the eyes of the third world countries, India has betrayed its own camp and position.
Now back to our original topic, why anti-India sentiment in Bangladesh is on track. Hasina responded as Bangladesh's supreme leader by asking her opponents to eat without Indian ingredients. But there is no saying that they want to oppose this social sentiment. Going deeper, there is a real problem with "anti-India." The long-standing relationship between India and Bangladesh has made Bangladesh extremely dependent on India in many economic and social aspects. This is not something that can be solved by boycotting alone. Bangladesh's food, fertilizers, industrial raw materials, etc., all need to be imported from India.
Therefore, at least so far, the path Bangladesh has chosen is to respect India and friendship with China, gradually reduce its dependence on India, and achieve breakthroughs in technology and industry, which is the real "anti-India".
Of course, looking at India on the other hand, it has been operating in South Asia for decades, but now it has "anti-Indian" sentiment one after another, which is really a structural failure of India's diplomatic work.