Cockroach Janta Party’s attempts to create unrest in India have found support from suspected quarters in Bangladesh. On 10th October, Bangladeshi ‘student leader’ Nahid Islam posted a message expressing ‘solidarity’ with CJP’s protestors. Islam, who hails from a country that is not known for having a strong democratic system, expressed concerns over Delhi Police preventive measures, describing them as threatening the fundamental freedoms of the people who wanted to take part in CJP’s unlawful agitation.
“This struggle is not yours alone. From Dhaka, we stand with you as friends bound by a common demand for accountable power, democratic institutions, and human dignity,” Islam wrote on X. He drew a similarity between CJP’s latest attempts to trigger an uprising in India disguised as a fight for protecting democracy and the violent July 2024 ‘student revolution’ in Bangladesh that overthrew the democratically elected government of former Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina.
“We know this struggle intimately, because we have lived it. In July 2024, our student-led movement against recruitment quotas transformed into a nationwide uprising against 15 years of authoritarian rule,” Islam said.
STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE YOUTH OF INDIA Dhaka, Bangladesh | 10 October 2026 To the youth and democratic forces of India, We stand in firm solidarity with the young people of India demanding electoral accountability and defending their democratic rights. Recent detentions of peaceful protesters, organizers, and journalists in New Delhi, alongside internet suspensions and restrictions at Jantar Mantar, directly threaten fundamental freedoms. Concerns regarding electoral integrity and institutional independence require transparent answers, not barricades and censorship. This struggle is not yours alone. From Dhaka, we stand with you as friends bound by a common demand for accountable power, democratic institutions, and human dignity. We know this struggle intimately, because we have lived it. In July 2024, our student led movement against recruitment quotas transformed into a nationwide uprising against 15 years of authoritarian rule. The state responded with live ammunition. The United Nations later estimated that as many as 1,400 people were killed during the uprising and its suppression. We deeply remember and honor the solidarity shown by Indian students, writers, and independent voices during our uprising. We recognize India’s rich traditions of democratic resistance. The women of Shaheen Bagh defended equal citizenship through a Delhi winter, while generations of students at JNU and Jadavpur University have sustained organised dissent. These remain invaluable democratic inheritances. Today, we once again see the courage of young Indian women on the streets. In Bangladesh, women were also at the forefront of the July Revolution; their courage and sacrifices helped secure our victory. Hindutva majoritarianism, fascism, and every form of religious supremacy must not define the future of South Asia. We reject authoritarianism, communal hatred, and political intolerance in India just as we reject them in Bangladesh. Our shared future must rest on communal harmony and social justice, irrespective of religion, caste, gender, or class. No society is truly democratic while minorities live in fear, dissent is criminalized, and citizenship is conditional on identity. We call upon Indian authorities to respect the right to peaceful assembly, disclose the whereabouts and legal grounds for detaining protest organizers, immediately release those held for exercising their rights, and ensure journalists can report without intimidation or equipment seizure. Today, many young leaders have been unjustly detained. Sharjeel Imam and Umar Khalid continue to be kept behind bars for years without trial. We regard all of India’s young protesters and prisoners of conscience as comrades. Their courage inspires young people across South Asia. Our struggles are interconnected, extending to unresolved issues of border killings, water sharing, environmental protection, and national sovereignty. We seek a South Asia where nations treat each other as equals, governments remain accountable, and sovereignty is never an excuse for domination. To the democratic people of India: from Dhaka, and from the unfinished democratic aspirations of our July generation, we stand with you. Stand firm, protect one another, reject communal hatred, and refuse to surrender the future of South Asia to fascism and division. Inqilab Zindabad.
— Nahid Islam (@NahidIslam_24) October 10, 2026
Islam also hailed the unlawful Shaheen Bagh protests that held the state to ransom for over 100 days and peddled misinformation about the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) as a sign of “India’s rich traditions of democratic resistance”. “We recognize India’s rich traditions of democratic resistance. The women of Shaheen Bagh defended equal citizenship through a Delhi winter, while generations of students at JNU and Jadavpur University have sustained organised dissent,” the Bangladeshi leader said.
Islam then went on to state that “Hindutva majoritarianism and fascism” will not define the future of South Asia. “Hindutva majoritarianism, fascism, and every form of religious supremacy must not define the future of South Asia. We reject authoritarianism, communal hatred, and political intolerance in India just as we reject them in Bangladesh. Our shared future must rest on communal harmony and social justice, irrespective of religion, caste, gender, or class. No society is truly democratic while minorities live in fear, dissent is criminalized, and citizenship is conditional on identity,” he said.
Ironically, Islam, who invoked democratic principles and fundamental freedoms in his message supporting malicious attempts to create unrest in India, was among the people who spearheaded a sinister agenda aimed at destabilising his own country under the guise of student activism. Nahid Islam, one of the 157 conveners of the “Anti-Discrimination Student Movement”, has announced an “all-out non- cooperation” movement starting August 4, 2024, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the democratically elected head of Bangladesh.
Nahid Islam later served as the information adviser to the interim government of Bangladesh led by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, which replaced the Sheikh Hasina government. Following the overthrow of the Sheikh Hasina regime in Bangladesh, Islamic fundamentalism took over, leading to a pogrom against the Hindu minorities of the country.
In February 2025, Nahid Islam resigned from the Yunus Cabinet to join the new political party.
