Jamaat Raises its Pitch

After being underground for more than a decade, Jamaat-e-lslami is back on the political circuit, raising concerns for India

- Shweta Desai

AS Bangladesh erupted in euphoria over the triumph of the Gen Z revolution-as it has become known thanks to the protest: movement led by young students and tweens-the Indian establishment watched the events that dismantled Sheikh Hasina's 15-year-long regime with extreme caution.

Alongside ordinary citizens from all walks of life, the protestors included members from the Jamaat-e-Islami (Jel) Bangladesh, the largest Islamist political party and its student wing the Islamist Chhatra Shibir (ICS). Shafiq ur Rehman, 65, chief of the Jel, was hailed on social media as the man behind the resistance movement. Known for its anti-India politics, allegiance to Pakistan, alleged links to jihadi terror groups and immense street power to cause violence, the involvement of Jel has given rise to the suspicion in India that the revolutions were backed by the Islamist party.

In 2011, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh vocalised the widely perceived threat from the JeI in an off-the-record conversation with journalists. The usually reticent Singh reportedly minced no words in his remarks, claiming that at least 25 per cent of Bangladesh's population, which follows the Jel or the Jamaat as it is also known, was very anti-Indian and the Islamist organisation was in the clutches of Pakistan's ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence). "The political landscape in Bangladesh can change at any time. We do not know what these terrorist elements, who have a hold on the Jel in Bangladesh, can be up to," Singh was quoted as saying at the time.

As that dreaded moment of reckoning arrived on August 6, leading to the regime change in Bangladesh, many in India's security and military establishment feared Singh's prophetic remarks becoming the neighbourhood's geopolitical reality.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has since underlined the safety of Hindu minorities twice in his statements on Bangladesh.