The ruling Awami League has won 231 of the 300 elected seats in Bangladesh's Parliament. It was, however, a somewhat meaningless election. Half the seats were uncontested. This is because an 18-party alliance led by the primary opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), had decided to boycott the polls. They had demanded that the Awami League's leader, Sheikh Hasina, step down as prime minister and allow a caretaker government to take over to supervise polls. Bangladesh's experience with such governments has not been the best; in 2007, a caretaker government opened the way to military intervention in politics. The Awami League-led government abolished the provision for a caretaker government in 2011 through the 15th amendment to the Bangladeshi Constitution. Thus, Ms Hasina's government is, in fact, strictly following the law. There is no legal reason to question its legitimacy.
However, no government can claim a true mandate when its principal opposition party has boycotted the polls. It is up to Ms Hasina, therefore, to make whatever compromises she can make within the law to the BNP to persuade the party to the negotiating table. Sadly, the difficult relationship between Ms Hasina and the leader of the BNP, Khaleda Zia - with its roots in the troubled and blood-soaked 1970s history of the country, in which both women's families were prominent - stands in the way of an easy compromise. The violence that marked this election season is another reason. Eighteen people were killed in police firing during Sunday's voting, and the Opposition burned 100 polling booths to the ground. The Islamists, a major component of the BNP-led opposition alliance, have also been the target of war crimes trials dating back to the war of independence in 1971. Bangladesh, always divided, seems more polarised now than ever.
It is important for India to ensure that it counsels Ms Hasina towards creating an opportunity for another, more inclusive election. It is in India's interest that democracy in Bangladesh survives and is seen as legitimate. It is also in India's interest that the secular, India-friendly forces that the Awami League represents continue to remain powerful, and are not eclipsed by the more retrograde philosophy of the BNP, or - worst of all- the radical, aggressive fundamentalism of the BNP's allies. India must also ensure that pressure on Bangladesh's government from other countries, including the US and Europe, takes into account the facts on the ground. There should be no question of delegitimising the Awami League government, which is after all on sound legal ground. India's diplomacy must be careful, forward-thinking, and respectful in this time of crisis.
