The landslide win recorded by Bangladesh’s Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League, winning 287 seats of the 298 declared until Monday evening of a total of 300, catapults her to third term in office by vanquishing all opposition. While the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and parties aligned to it have rejected the election calling it extensively rigged, it is inconceivable that the whole mandate can be overturned. That the BNP won a mere six seats makes it clear that the decimation of the party and of its leader Begum Khaleda Zia, currently serving a 17-year jail term for corruption is indeed unprecedented.
Sheikh Hasina and Begum Khaleda have been at dagger’s drawn for a long time and their no-holds-barred rivalry has been for all to see. At least 17 people were killed in poll clashes in the country in the course of the election campaign in the bloodiest election till date since Bangladesh was carved out of Pakistan in 1971. As many as 60,000 troops were deployed in the run-up to the elections.Sheikh Hasina has consistently been seen as a great friend of India and the steamroller victory is justifiably looked upon as a major boost for Indo-Bangladesh relations. During the period that Khaleda Zia was prime minister relations between the two countries were frosty. But with Sheikh Hasina’s win a decade ago, there was a vast improvement in ties which has been maintained over the years.
During the past couple of years, over 90 agreements have been signed including in high-tech areas like space research, IT, electronics, cyber security and civil nuclear energy. Bangladesh has ceased to be a sanctuary for terrorists and fugitives with the Sheikh Hasina government co-operating with India to track them down. Border tangles were by and large resolved through the land boundary agreement between the two countries in 2015. The Chinese have made several moves to wrench Bangladesh away from Indians but these have not succeeded. But the Chinese are not giving up and there is growing trade and investment between the two countries. Pakistan too is involved in moves to undermine Sheikh Hasina in an overt way. As things stand, Sheikh Hasina’s hold on power would increase with the watershed Awami League win, but Begum Khaleda will leave no stone unturned to get the better of her through means that may well be more foul than fair.