All of this would be consequential even under a fully elected government with a clear popular mandate. It becomes more troubling when done by an interim administration. Trade and security alignments of this magnitude shape a nation’s geopolitical posture for decades. They influence relations with China, Russia, India, the European Union, and ASEAN. They affect bargaining positions in multilateral forums. They alter perceptions among investors and strategic planners. After the national election on February 12, the elected government will inherit this architecture. They will face a choice: comply and accept narrowed autonomy, or attempt renegotiation and risk economic retaliation.
The Constitution of India enshrines fraternity as a foundational value alongside liberty, equality, and justice. Yet fraternity cannot survive on parchment alone; it requires everyday acts of courage. Deepak Kumar’s gesture — simple, instinctive, humane — stands in contrast to the flood of rhetoric that seeks to divide citizens along religious lines. It reminds us that the long history of Hindu-Muslim interaction in food, literature, architecture, festivals, and everyday life cannot be erased by slogans.
If Jamaat comes to power it will likely begin with populist moves such as anti-corruption drives, predicts Ahmedur Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi writer and editor who has been living in Norway since surviving a 2015 attack. He says he fears mobilisation of religious groups to push for declaring Bangladesh an Islamic republic and enforce Sharia law. The result would be shrinking freedoms for women, curbs on cultural life, and serious threats to freedom of expression, religious minorities, and secular political and cultural spaces.
The threat from ISIS-K is real and growing. A resurgence in Pakistan would have serious implications for the broader region, including India. The danger is compounded if Pakistan once again attempts to clandestinely redirect ISIS-K towards Kashmir. What may appear as an isolated terror incident is, in fact, part of a wider pattern that demands sustained vigilance. Pakistan’s internal security instability risks creating openings for cross-border terror movements, potentially hardening new militant modules aimed at India and beyond.
Unlike Pakistan, India is an emerging regional power both from a political and economic point of view, and India, since the last two decades, has built a friendly image in the minds of many Afghans – many consider India as the second home for the Afghans, write Hamayun Khan & S. Nasrat for South Asia Monitor
The Indian government’s explanation for the crackdown on these presentations is comprehensive enough to nip all literary, cinematic, and journalistic ventures in the bud, writes Amulya Ganguli for South Asia Monitor
Biden is having to deal with the geopolitical realities of the rising threat from China and has to have India as a strategic asset for meeting the challenge, writes Arul Louis for South Asia Monitor
In the last six years of being in office, this government has taken numerous initiatives to harness the potential of the maritime sector and improve India’s global standing, writes Cmdre Anil Jai Singh (retd) for South Asia Monitor
Global recession has amplified domestic economic challenges and caused output contraction in 2020, with economies that rely heavily on tourism and travel particularly hard hit are Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, writes Partha Pratim Mitra for South Asia Monitor
India too would appear to be finally moving towards a more ‘aligned’ foreign policy in response to a militaristic and aggressive China and its puppet ally Pakistan, both implacably opposed to her rise, writes Amb Bhaswati Mukherjee (retd) for South Asia Monitor
A quarter of a century later, it is clear that the BJP has said farewell to such leniency and the spirit of accommodation which enabled Vajpayee to come to power at the centre in 1998, writes Amulya Ganguli for South Asia Monitor
Both the governments of Bangladesh and India can come out with policies that promote renewable energy sources, which will help to improve air quality and human health, writes Safen Roy for South Asia Monitor
Attracting Japanese companies shifting out of China thus is consistent with Bangladesh’s Look East policy. To facilitate this a Special Economic Zone is being built, writes N Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor
The US-Taliban peace deal also needs to be rejected, as it is a disaster in the making for Afghanistan, the region as well as for America since it would turn Af-Pak into a terror cauldron and a springboard to launch terror attacks on the US and its allies, writes Lt Gen Prakash Katoch (Retd) for South Asia Monitor
Can the EU hope for forward-looking language on at least a limited trade deal between India and the EU?, writes Amb Bhaswati Mukherjee (retd) for South Asia Monitor
The Supreme Court of India has categorically held that criticism of the government, however harsh, does not amount to sedition unless violence is incited, writes Rahul Machaiah for South Asia Monitor
Fifty years of bitter experience should prompt the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to initiate a major paradigm-shift in India's defence-industrial programmes, writes Admiral Arun Prakash (retd) for South Asia Monitor
India must seek a larger role for the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration in the international arena, write Pradeep S. Mehta and Jithin Sabu for South Asia Monitor
Bangladesh should keep raising the Rohingya issue in all international forums. It should continue its efforts in various diplomatic arenas to exert more international pressure on Myanmar for a quick Rohingya repatriation, write MD Sakib Hossain & Kawsar Uddin Mahmud for South Asia Monitor
