It has been exactly a month since the BJP emerged the winner in the Bengal assembly elections. Some changes are more visible than others.
Sovereignty is not maintained by lines drawn on a map or by seats held at the United Nations. It is maintained by the absolute certainty that if you attack the forces of the state, the state will break you.
The protection of life and liberty is a core constitutional and operational mandate of the Home Minister in Bangladesh. He directs key security forces, including the Border Guards Bangladesh, to ensure the physical safety and security of citizens.
The NCP risks sliding into oblivion and losing its uniqueness by merging into the shadow of larger political interests. It must now undertake serious soul-searching about the long-term costs and benefits of its strategy.
The Chinese leaders learned it well, as was evident in his call to Mr. Trump in the opening remarks of Chinese Premier Mr. Xi Jinping, who urged him to avoid falling into the Thucydides trap and embrace peace for global prosperity. But at the close of the talk, the disturbing global concerns may be: is there a second Kissinger, or a President like Nixon, to achieve the same?
Societies often come to believe that electoral victories are all that is needed to save democracy, when in fact they end up undermining constitutional democracy through their electoral triumphs.
Bangladesh's geographical location -- standing at the intersection of South Asia, Southeast Asia, and vital maritime trade routes -- grants it immense strategic value. Washington understands this reality fully.
Pakistan may be relevant. But relevance is not neutrality, and it is not trustworthiness. Any diplomatic process in which Pakistan seeks a decisive role should be treated with strict limits, hard verification, and deep skepticism.
In this environment, terms like “deep state conspiracy,” “foreign funding,” etc provide a ready‑made vocabulary for dismissing the July uprising as manufactured rather than acknowledging the real anger that drove it.
A nation fighting for its survival generates a depth of will that a nation fighting for its credibility simply cannot match.
The Farakka Long march of 1976 was ultimately a march for dignity, justice, and survival. Even after five decades, its meaning has not faded. Rather, it has become more urgent than ever before. Because when rivers survive, nations survive too.
But the Strait of Hormuz never read your book. It does not care about Hegel. It does not care about the "universalization of liberal democracy." It cares about the presence of a warship within 500 kilometers of its shores -- and it has learned to fire a missile that can make that warship regret its existence.
Mamata Banerjee governed Bengal through emotional familiarity. She spoke the language of neighbourhood grievances, middle class anxieties, and Bengali insecurity about national marginalization. For years, that intimacy protected her from anti-incumbency.
Does it mark the end of an era, or return to a bygone era in which Hindu-Muslim clash was a celebrated theme? The Muslim-majority Bangladesh next door, which has just survived a massive political upheaval, adds urgency to our query.
For Bangladesh, diplomacy has now become more important than ever before. It will require a sophisticated neighbourhood policy that combines realism with prudence. Emotional reactions or reactive nationalism unlikely to serve Bangladesh’s long-term interests well.
What India did for us is real. What India has done to us, and what it has told itself to justify that, is the projection.
