The relations between India and Bangladesh finally step into their 50th year since its inception in 1971, following the victory in the Liberation War of Bangladesh. Prime Minister Modi also makes his state visit to the country after a year’s gap following the disastrous COVID-19 Pandemic. Also, in terms of the internal situation of India, this visit comes to be held at a point of time when the states of West Bengal and Assam are bound for Assembly Polls. So, at this time this visit is also being witnessed with great importance, as it can have an impact upon the polls of these two states, especially West Bengal.
The Bangladesh Visit And India’s Internal Politics
Prime Minister Modi in his state visit to Bangladesh, this time had planned to make visits to 2 of the major Hindu religious sites like the Jeshoreshwari Kali Bari which is one of the 51 Shaktipeethas in this sub-continent, located at Satkhira District of Bangladesh and Orakandi in Gopalganj, the birthplace of Shri Harichand Thakur, the founder of the Matua sect of Hinduism.
His visits to these two places can be seen as quite important and a source of confidence-building measure for the Hindu community in Bangladesh as well as the people of West Bengal. His visit to the shrine of Harichand Thakur at Orakandi, the Matua Namashudra Community in the Indian State of West Bengal showed a strong sense of positivity and pride in their feelings. In West Bengal’s total population, 30 million people are found to be followers of this sect and 15 million of these people are voters.
So the impact of the Matua voters can be found in around 50 electoral seats in West Bengal. Prime Minister Modi assured me of granting financial aid for the construction of Joint Multi-Purpose Community halls and many other infrastructural works in these sites, along with 2 primary and medium level schools for girls at Orakandi. This can be understood in a way, by which India is trying to make inroads into the cultural and infrastructural development sector of Bangladesh, which might act as a counterweight against China’s efforts to leave its footprint if it is carried out devotedly.
Also, in these 50 years, the 2 countries witnessed a lot of upheavals and developments that can be either positively or negatively viewed with success and failures on the same hand.
Major Developments
- In the area of defense and strategic cooperation, both countries have been committed to observing peace and security along their frontiers, and also have collaborated in sharing intelligence and fighting terrorism jointly. This is the 3rd time in the Republic Day Parade of India, as a part of foreign contingent participation, the Armed Forces of Bangladesh had participated and exercises like Sampriti and Milan have also been successfully conducted. India and Bangladesh share a land boundary of 4,096.7 kilometers, which is the 5 longest land boundary in the world. The largest land boundary agreement has been concluded in 2015, which has marked the beginning of a new chapter in relations between the two nations. Despite severe opposition from the West Bengal Government.
- In terms of River Water Sharing, both nations share waters of 54 rivers and since 1972, and have agreed to the working through a Joint River Commission, still, there are confusions regarding the sharing of river waters and most recently, both nations have reached an understanding to share water from the Feni River.
- Both nations have also collaborated in the international forum in a very cohesive manner, as well. Bangladesh has supported the bid for granting India the permanent seat at UN Security Council also on the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals, initiation of reforms in the Security Council. Also, Bangladesh yielded support to India on the Virtual Conference of SAARC leaders and for the creation of the COVID-19 Emergency fund, and India also supports Bangladesh for assuming CHairmanship of the Indian Ocean Rim Association to work at a greater aspect for ensuring maritime security.
- The economic relations have been quite encouraging to note, with Bangladesh becoming the largest trade partner for India in South Asia with showing a rise in the share of imports and exports, according to the data of (2018-19).
- New initiatives have come up in the field of connectivity and people-to-people contacts between both nations, like the Haldibari-Chilahati rail link, which has been opened after 55 years, with showing a rise in roadway and railway connectivity.
- Most recently, in December a virtual summit was held between Prime Ministers of both the countries, where 7 partnership agreements were signed and India was granted access to the Chittagong and Mongla Ports to allow movement of goods into India’s North-Eastern states.
There remain a contention and issues over sharing of some of the river’s waters, but some speculations are being voiced by Dhaka regarding India’s stand on its citizenship clauses. Still, Bangladesh is a recipient of Chinese Military equipment, as it has inducted a new batch of K-8 Karakorum Trainer Aircrafts, MBT-2000 and VT-5 Tanks, and 2 attack submarines. But recently with the visit of Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria, Bangladesh showed interest in purchasing the Indian-made LCA Tejas aircraft.
Impact And Development Of The Current Visit
In this recent two-day visit of Prime Minister Modi, 5 MoUs have been signed on 27th March, 2021 that have covered a range of bilateral areas of cooperation to enhance the ties between the two nations. The delegations of India and Bangladesh also held talks over the progress that has been achieved in areas of trade, connectivity and energy with and signed MoUs on sports, connectivity, information technology, and commerce.
Also, the most attractive part of this visit was the Humanitarian gesture shown by the Indian delegation towards the people of Bangladesh, where a key for 109 Ambulances have been handed over to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and a dose of 1.2 million COVID vaccines have been handed over to the Government of Bangladesh.
In terms of active engagement between the governments, there are means like governmental and political leadership that would seek towards laying the foundation of new progress, and with space and industrial sector which would focus on nurturing the ground level stakeholders. But, keeping view of this age, the new generation on both sides needs to take up the cause and extend the drive of friendship and tranquillity with reinforcing better relations; making a site for restoration of the memories and legacy of the Liberation War, that would unite both the nations on the same thought and believe.
Also, facilitation of changes between the people through expanding people-to-people contact, as both nations have a bright future, thereby extending tourism, cultural or entertainment exchanges that have a rich cultural and natural potential.
Bangladesh being a gateway of India’s Neighborhood First Policy, the city-to-city connections cannot be ignored between Delhi, Kolkata, Khulna, Jessore, Dhaka, and Agartala. The recent inauguration of the ‘Maitri Setu’ between the Indian states of Tripura to Bangladesh’s Ramgarh Upazila has resolved some of the vexed issues that had appeared as a distraction in the last few.
Dhaka goes on to hold more importance for India’s engagement in the Bay of Bengal in being the Headquarters of BIMSTEC. Still, despite being a part of China’s Belt-Road Initiative, it has also at the same time stressed doing business with India which is a more important economic program that can work on balancing China’s hegemonic steps in the Indian Ocean region.
However, still, there are many unresolved issues between both India and Bangladesh, but it’s the voice of the people of these 2 nations that are taking the relationship ahead, the people of both nations share the same history of struggles, culture, and brotherhood. Issues like the sharing of Teesta Rivers’ Waters which is a hindrance from the end of the current West Bengal Government, need to be solved.