NEW DELHI: The potential radicalisation of Indian students in Bangladesh may soon emerge as a major security concern for India, said intelligence sources on Thursday.
Over 8,000 Indian medical students were studying in Bangladesh at the time of the 2024 political crisis there, which led to the ouster of then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Inputs emerging from the neighbouring country suggest that a number of students in medical colleges in Dhaka, Sylhet, Rajshahi and Chittagong have become the target of ideological grooming by radical elements who hold sway in the country after PM Hasina was ousted from power, the sources said.
A senior intelligence official said, “After Hasina, Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh and its student wing, Chatra Shibir, have re-entered campuses. The Chatra Shibir controls student hostels, prayer groups and weekend camps in Faridpur, Mirpur and Uttara medical zones. These medical colleges are serving as ideological moorings for Indian and Nepali students.”
Indications are that smaller student-specific (Ishtima) congregations attract over 2-3 lakh youth annually including Indian and other foreign students.
According to intelligence inputs, recruiters from Jamaat and Tablighi offshoots use these congregations to radicalise youth. ISI handlers have also re-established their communication channels with radical clerics. The main motive is to use Jamaat networks to influence student opinion, they added.
The ISI and Jamaat feed anti-India narratives through scholarships, religious orientation sessions, and digital forums, a source said, adding: “The JMB and IS-Bangla units have started online propaganda on Telegram and encrypted apps after Hasina left.”
On August 5, 2024, a student-led protest in Bangladesh over government job quotas escalated into nationwide unrest that led to the ouster of the Hasina government. Protests had converged on the streets of the capital Dhaka near Hasina's official residence. Security forces informed the then PM that they were “nearly exhausted of manpower/ammunition." Hasina then left Bangladesh via military helicopter ending her rule of about 15 years.