As former Bangladesh PM and chief of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Khaleda Zia Sunday apprised Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the “lack of democracy” in Bangladesh, Modi told her that India was supportive of democracy, but opposed to “fundamentalism and terrorism”. His comments assume significance since the BNP had been working in tandem with the fundamentalists, Jamaat-e-Islami, and has been blaming the Sheikh Hasina government for the absence of democracy. Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar Sunday said, “The PM told her that we were supportive of democracy, but were opposed to fundamentalism and terrorism.” [related-post] Calling on the Prime Minister, Zia told Modi that there was no democracy in the country and stressed that to ensure “actual development” in Bangladesh, voices of the people must be heard. “It was a very good meeting,” she told reporters afterwards. Her aide and BNP standing committee member Moin Khan said, “If the two countries want to develop relations between them, they should develop relations between the people of the two countries. Governments may come and go, but people will be there always. So for long-lasting relations, relations should be built between the people of the two countries.” “We apprised him (Modi) about lack of democracy in Bangladesh. We told Modi that development cannot happen without the foundation of democracy. Democracy and development cannot be separated,” he said. When Khan was asked why Zia decided to take up the matter with Modi, he said, “Janaab Modi is a believer of democracy. How he has risen from grassroots to what he has achieved, that has been possible because of democracy. You can talk about democracy with those who value democracy. It is difficult to talk about it with others, although we have been making efforts.” He said that development cannot take place without democracy. “We know about Modi’s strong views on democracy and everybody knows what is happening in Bangladesh,” he added. BNP leaders were present during Modi’s meeting with Zia, but the two leaders later had a one-to-one meeting as well.
