Why ‘India Out’ is drowning in the echo of ‘India In’ in Bangladesh

“What India Out,” exclaims an angry Mir Mustaque Ahmed Robi, a former Bangladesh lawmaker.

“In the last two days, I have bought leather goods worth Rs 20,000, essential medicines worth quite as much for me and my ailing wife, and a Punjabi (kurta) worth Rs 15,000,” Mustaque told The Federal.

His angry outburst was in response to a question on the ‘India Out’ campaign launched in Bangladesh by a few Opposition bloggers and politicians which gained traction when senior Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi set fire to his Kashmiri shawl during a public protest against Indian goods. Rizvi set the shawl afire after Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina slammed the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) for making saris a matter of politics.

Hasina batted for India saying, “They (BNP) must answer if they can eat without Indian spices. I want to know if they have truly boycotted Indian products… The BNP leaders are advocating for boycotting Indian products. My question is – how many Indian saris do the boycott campaigners’ wives possess? Why don't they take the saris from their wives and burn them?” she added.

The bustling Kolkata New Market.

The BNP ran an anti-India campaign targeting saris and other products, stating that they would burn the Indian saris of the wives.

Ruling Awami League figures like MP Tarana Halim have joined PM Hasina in challenging the ‘India Out’ campaign.

Halim argued in a recent article that Bangladeshis buy Indian goods because they are value for money and varied. “I buy many saris when in India not because we don’t produce good saris but because Indian saris are relatively cheaper and there is enormous variety on offer,” she told The Federal.

“Outside of Bangladesh, where can I buy saries? China, US or UK?” she asks sarcastically, adding “Last time I was in India, I bought a dozen saris from down South until I ran out of money.”

Halim also punches a hole in arguments put forward by Opposition bloggers and YouTubers like Pinaki Bhattacharya who justify the boycott of Indian goods on the grounds that India has helped Hasina “murder democracy”.

“India and China have both backed our government led by PM Hasina. If that is what is upsetting them, they should also start a ‘China Out’ campaign and boycott Chinese products,” Halim said.

Tarana Halim also challenges the Islamist Opposition to first start a ‘Pakistan Out’ campaign for what its army did to the Bengali people in 1971. "They massacred 3 million Bengalis and raped 3 lakh of our women, so why not Pakistan Out," she asked.

Robi backs sister-in-law Tarana Halim, a former information minister and before that a leading actress and lawyer.

“We are emotionally attached to India because it backed our Liberation War and stood by us through thick and thin. But when we buy Indian products it is not only because they are cheaper and good quality but we are traditionally used to them,” said Robi, who is a 1971 Independence War hero. Just 18 years old then, Robi, a naval commando trained by Indian Navy single-handedly blew up two Pakistani vessels at the western Bangladesh post.

People from Bangladesh say India offers cheaper products and also a lot of variety.

The Bengali naval commandos blew up 57 Pakistani vessels, ships big, medium and small in the week following Pakistani Independence Day on August 14, 1971.

“That was the turning point of the Bengali armed struggle for independence,” says Robi.

As the 72 year, three times Bangladesh MP struggled through the rush of Kolkata’s New Market in sizzling heat to finish his Eid shopping, he pointed to thousands of his countrymen furiously shopping around in New Market area.

“I am Quddus from Jessore in Bangladesh and I am shopping here in Kolkata because it makes sense for my pocket. The saris I bought here for Rs 60,000 will cost me more than double in my country and I won’t even get this variety,” says the 45-year-old small trader.

His friend Mohammed Aklak claims the ‘India Out’ campaign actually increased the rush of Bangladeshis to Kolkata this Eid season and led to furious buying.

Former Bangladesh lawmaker Mir Mostaque Ahmed Robi shopping in Kolkata's New Market.

“If I want to buy Indian products, I have to travel to Kolkata which is the same distance as Dhaka for me,” Aklak said pointing to disruptions caused by the ‘India Out’ campaign in the last two months.

Manish Jhunjhunwalaa, a textile shop owner in Kolkata’s New Market claims his sales this Eid season doubled over last year.

“I don’t know whether the big Indian suppliers from western India have seen a drop in their exports because of the India Out campaign but we in Kolkata’s retail trade have certainly gained,” Jhunjhunwala told The Federal.

In January 2024, Indian exports to Bangladesh stood at $923 million, while the imports were worth $134 million, resulting in a positive trade balance of $790 million. Between January 2023 and January 2024, Indian exports have increased by $122M (15.2%) from $802 million to $923 million, while imports decreased by $-31.3 million (-18.9%) from $165 million to $134 million.

Meanwhile, Paris-based YouTuber Pinaki Bhattacharya, the driving force of the India Out campaign, will have you believe New Delhi is panicking over the economic consequences of the ‘India Out’ campaign in Bangladesh.

Indian diplomats laugh it off.

“Ask Pinaki to do a walkabout commentary from New Market in the week before Eid and say what he says always about boycotting Indian goods. He will be beaten by his own countrymen,” says former Indian deputy High commissioner Sarvajit Chakravarty.

Bangladeshi entrepreneur Farjana Tisha, who designs exquisite Punjabi kurtas and other textile products in the two garment factories she runs in Dhaka, says she is in Kolkata for dental treatment.

“The implants I got done for Rs 35,000 would cost me at least one lakh in Dhaka,” said Tisha.

“From medical treatment to retail buying, we can't do without India. It is not ‘India Out’ but ‘India in’ for us."