In Bangladesh, thousands of rioters succeeded in their ‘regime change’ plans as they created unrest throughout the country demanding the resignation of the democratically elected Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. As thousands of rioters marched towards her official residence in Dhaka, Gana Bhawan, she was forced to flee the country for her safety and take temporary refuge in India. In the meantime, the celebrating protesters stormed her house, ransacked and looted everything they could lay their hands on. While some of the rioters waved looted animals, others displayed her sarees and undergarments as spoils of war. 

However, in India, the Islamists, left-leaning journalists and other usual suspects have been peddling this as some sort of a ‘victory of democracy and youth’, despite numerous reports of targeted attacks against Hindus, their houses and their temples coming out from Bangladesh. Additionally, several Hindu leaders and journalists have been killed in the so-called protest for upholding democracy. 

Nonetheless, the protest which initially began with the demand to end the reservation for the families of freedom fighters ‘liberation warriors’ of Bangladesh, finally culminated in ‘regime change’ in India’s eastern neighbour. As more pictures and videos have been emerging out of Bangladesh, the apprehensions of persecution of minority communities, particularly, the Hindus are increasing alarmingly. 

However, the global reactions over the sudden and chaotic developments have again underscored the fact that there are multiple things at play, behind the scenes, and there is more than what meets the eye. Amidst all the preliminary observations, the role of one man, Donald Lu, is emerging as a critical factor in sealing the outcome of events in Bangladesh.

Who is US Diplomat Donald Lu who made a sudden visit to India during the Lok Sabha elections; Rahul Gandhi reportedly also met him during a secret visit to the White House

Donald Lu is an American diplomat who currently serves as the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs since September 2021. Earlier, he was the US Ambassador to Albania and Kyrgyzstan. He has a controversial track record and is notorious for interfering in the political processes of other countries.

The self-anointed Human Rights, democracy and virtue-signalling Police of the World, the United States of America has earned infamy for meddling in the internal affairs of other countries, their election process and their key policy measures in the garb of Human Rights reports and sermons thereof. Donald Lu is the American equivalent of a ‘Chinese wolf warrior’. He had often expressed concerns about Human Rights issues (read warnings to countries that do not toe US dictation) in India under the tenure of the Modi government as well as several other countries around the world.  

Taking a step further, he made a sudden visit to India when the Lok Sabha elections in 2024 were in full swing. Interestingly, he didn’t land in the National Capital, New Delhi but he visited Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, so far which is said to be a stronghold for Dravidian politics and a bastion where BJP is considered weak. The leaders of the DMK party had often raised the secessionist demand for a separate nation, ‘Dravida Nadu’. Regarding his visit, the US had released a controversial press release claiming that Donald Lu embarked on a visit to Chennai to ‘strengthen bilateral relations with South India’.

Back then, a Geopolitical expert Dr. Anant Bhagwat had said that the Biden administration did not want a stable government in India, because during the ten years of the stable Modi government, India followed a strong and independent foreign policy and it was undeterred by external pressures. 

Strikingly, last year, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi reportedly had a secret meeting at the US White House where he met Donald Lu as well as other officials of the Biden administration. Incidentally, during his US trip, the Congress leader made several contentious remarks including seeking ‘foreign intervention’ to restore ‘democracy in India’ as it was a global public good. 

Regarding Donald Lu, the founder of Pune-based ‘Global Strategy Foundation’, Bhagwat said, “Donald Lu is a hated figure in India due to his interference attempts in Indian democracy. Last year, he entertained Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi at the White House.” However, the Ministry of External Affairs of India did not have any information related to this.

Donald Lu and his observations about India, ‘concerned’ about Jammu and Kashmir, Human Rights and more

When Donald Lu appeared before the US ‘Senate Foreign Affairs Committee’ in March 2023, he expressed concern about human rights issues in India. He had expressed concern over the absence of assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir and ‘ongoing human rights violations’.

After the abrogation of Article 370 and 35 A, Ladakh was carved out of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir and the remaining part was given the status of a Union territory. Post the abrogation, there has been a marked reduction in stone pelting, on average over 2 crore tourists have visited the UT in a year. While elections were held in the valley for the first time for third-tier governance, the USA expressed concerns that India was not holding elections for the J&K assembly. 

Regarding Jammu and Kashmir, Donald Lu told the US Senate, “We are closely monitoring reports of discrimination against Muslim communities and other religious minority groups as well as limits on free speech and NGOs.” 

He added that it is critical that India’s partners speak up when they “witness troubling events”, however, stating that they also support India’s democratic institutions which are the country’s key defence against the erosion of human rights. 

He added, “We have not seen the holding of Legislative Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.” He had also expressed concerns about the arrests of ‘prominent journalists’ in the Kashmir valley. 

It is pertinent to note here that so far, over 70 government employees have been dismissed in Kashmir for helping terrorists or for involvement in anti-India activities. For example, the editor of a media organisation named ‘Kashmir Wala’ was jailed because Fahad Shah had glorified terrorism. Despite these grave concerns for India’s national security and territorial sovereignty, the US ‘expressed concerns’ on these arrests of ‘prominent journalists’ despite it being the internal matter of its “ally” country.

During the Senate hearing, he also gave his observations about India-Taiwan relations.  

“We have seen the Indian Navy sail into the Taiwan Straits. I think that’s symbolically very important at the time when we all are looking to provide reassurance to Taiwan about their security,” he said.

While India has maintained that the USA is an important partner, the USA which is driven by a hegemonistic worldview, has been co-opting its partners/allies to play its junior partner or even a second fiddle and act as its weapon against China. 

During the same trip, he also visited Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. 

By the time of his visit to Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina came back to power for the fourth time. US Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas has been accused of supporting the opposition party Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which had boycotted the last elections.

People close to Sheikh Hasina then believed that America was mounting pressure on Dhaka to follow the anti-China line. In the Indo-Pacific frontier, the USA was continuously trying to court Bangladesh on its side. For this, it had also expressed ‘concerns’ (read warnings for Independent foreign policy) about human rights issues in Bangladesh, before the elections. 

Donald Lu’s involvement in other countries

Additionally, in Pakistan, the elected Prime Minister Imran Khan was ousted in April 2022 and a temporary government was established after he was publicly seen at odds with the US administration. He was ousted by the Pakistani military and replaced by a coalition of several parties. 

The ousted Pakistan PM Imran Khan had alleged that he was removed because of ‘foreign interference’ and had mentioned the name of Donald Lu as the facilitator. However, Lu had termed all these allegations as false and rubbished it as a ‘conspiracy theory’. 

It is said that even though the US imposed sanctions on Russia in the wake of its war against Ukraine, Imran Khan was improving diplomatic ties with Russia, which angered the USA. 

All this indicates that the deep state of the United States of America has increased its meddling and intervention efforts in South Asia. 

Furthermore, Donald Lu had also mentioned ‘political reforms’ in Bangladesh. Sheikh Hasina’s party ‘Awami League’ had raised the issue of US support to their rival party, BNP and its leader Khaleda Zia. In the current unrest in Bangladesh, the mobs of violent protesters have been targeting ‘Awami League’ leaders and have killed several of them. 

Incidentally, similar unfortunate scenes had emerged from Sri Lanka in July 2022 as it got trapped in the US-China rivalry. Back then, violent protesters had stormed the Rashtrapati Bhavan of Sri Lanka and indulged in vandalism and loot. It is said that as Sri Lanka was getting deeper in the Chinese debt trap, America desperately wanted to stop Chinese influence in the island nation.  

The Sri Lankan protests yielded the same outcome as it did in Bangladesh, President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had to resign from his post and leave the country. Likewise, his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa had to leave the post of Prime Minister. 

Meanwhile, this year, Donald Lu has claimed that Sri Lanka is now making a comeback. Now, America is funding the Colombo West Terminal Port. Financial assistance was given to Sri Lanka through USAID. USAID is an ‘International Development’ organisation, however, it has also been accused of funding regime change. 

Incidentally, while praising the ‘new’ Sri Lanka, Donald Lu had warned India-Bangladesh regarding Rohingya. Notably, illegal Rohingya immigrants have become a major problem for law and order and national security in India as they have been found committing crimes and many of them have been living in India on forged documents. 

Now the question arises whether Donald Lu wants to carry out similar ‘regime change’ operations or colour revolutions in India that he is accused of orchestrating in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka? However, such an operation is very difficult in India as it involves more complexities with every state and UTs having their own unique issues and strengths. In India, the sources of income and priorities of people keep changing in every region, with agriculture being the only profession that unites the entire country.

US deep states and why it is irked that the Modi government is in power in India

It is an open secret that majorly all global powers follow a containment strategy and want to ‘check’ the progress of other countries including their allies and the US has a similar stance towards India, especially led by a stable and progressive government which has a Nationalistic worldview. Having said that, the US deep state would obviously prefer a weak coalition anti-BJP government in India rather than a strong Modi government. For this, propaganda and global smear campaigns against India are in full swing.  

On the internal front, all efforts have been made to spread confusion and chaos by provoking sentimental issues be it Agniveer, regarding which false claims were openly made even inside the Parliament. A concerted campaign is going on to divide the Hindu community on caste lines with Rahul Gandhi promising inside Parliament that the opposition would carry out a nationwide caste census. 

During the ‘Farmers Movement’, the country witnessed how ‘protesters’ rampaged Delhi on Independence day and Khalistani flags were seen on the Red fort. Additionally, the protesters gheraoed the national capital for over 1 year. Even today many farmers are sitting on the Shambhu border of Punjab-Haryana.

These are all such issues which can be used to instigate a large section of the people of the country. Incidentally, journalists, particularly Pakistani journalists expressing concerns about Indian democracy, pose questions to the ‘prepared’ spokesperson of the Biden administration on every trivial matter or protest which is and should have been left to India to tackle as it is the country’s internal matter.   

As an ambassador in Albania-Kyrgyzstan, Donald Lu instigated people to overthrow the government

Apprehensions take flight especially when a notorious US diplomat like Donald Lu is in charge of such things who has a tainted tenure in Albania. During his tenure in Albania, he publicly provoked people to overthrow the country’s government. He had asked the public to pose questions to the leaders and change the government.

Provoking the public in the garb of genuine issues like parliamentary and judicial reforms, he asked the Albanian youth to put pressure on their government to lead a better life than their parents, adding that otherwise, they should overthrow the government.  

Additionally, the American Ambassador then toured several cities of the small country and held ‘discussions’ with the youth. 

Similarly, when Donald Lu was the US Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, political tensions prevailed in that country. He stayed there from 2018 to 2021, and in between his tenure, Kyrgyzstan witnessed a major protest. In June 2019, lawmakers voted to open a criminal case against then-President Sooronbay Shiripovich Jeenbekov.

He finally had to resign in 2020, as there were many protests against him. Something similar happened there too as there were allegations of rigging in the elections held in October 2020. It is said that America also had a hand in pressuring President Sooronbay Shiripovich Jeenbekov to resign. Protests are still going on in Albania to remove Prime Minister Edi Rama. Force had to be used to stop the demonstrations in many cities. Because of these developments, Donald Lu is also credited for the unrest in Kyrgyzstan and Albania.