Nahid F Mohit

[Sami @ZulkarnainSaer]

Initially, Mr @realDonaldTrump's falsehood on minority attacks in Bangladesh in an attempt to reach out to Hindu voters on Diwali came like a bolt from the blue. Why bring up Bangladesh, I wondered. But then it dawned on me that it wasn’t out of character at all. Remember that he enjoys a foothold of support among Hindus in the US. And how can we forget his epic line from back in 2016? “I am a big fan of Hindu, and I am a big fan of India. Big, big fan.” There, my friends, lies the crux of the issue.

The Indian government is so bothered by the ouster of Sheikh Hasina that it is leaving no stone unturned to intimidate us. ‘Hey, look, the next US president has his eyes on you, you pesky little $hits — so watch your back.’

So, should we be worried? Perhaps. Whether we like it or not, India is a force to reckon with — and the Hindu lobby is as strong as the Jewish lobby in the US. To appease Mr @narendramodi, Mr Trump might slap us on the wrist. But why should we let it? Given the relentless coverage by the Indian media on the imaginary attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh after Hasina’s ouster, the hands-off approach by the @BDMOFA missions and the @ChiefAdviserGoB press wing is rather hazardous. Our pushback should have been way more forceful. It isn’t hard for the mighty Indian media to establish a global narrative, so our silence implies complicity.

Why isn’t the Bangladesh mission taking out full-page ads in Indian national papers dispelling the falsehoods? Why aren’t we taking out full-page ads on @washingtonpost or @nytimes ? Why aren’t we sending our columnists who write in foreign media to talk about it? I see no push back and this is making me uneasy. @NetraNews has done an immense story dispelling the myth, but the local media, esp. the publications perused by the diplomatic circle, not doing stories along that line?

We just can’t let that narrative be embedded in people’s minds anywhere. In fact, the interim government’s approach on this issue is reminiscent of the @bdbnp78's non-action during the constant drip of factually incorrect reports by @ProthomAlo and @dailystarnews from 2001 to 2007. Those two papers’ version became BNP’s truth in most people’s minds — and has become a monkey on the party’s back to date.