At an event jointly organised by the Observer Research Foundation and the Centre for Research and Information, India’s envoy to Bangladesh, Riva Ganguly Das, said that the India-Bangladesh friendship has “transformed significantly” and “reached new heights”. She further said, “Our relations are based on history, language, secularism and several other commonalities and it uniquely forged in the liberation war of Bangladesh.” Ganguly highlighted how Bangladesh’s role in India’s “act east policy” and acts as a “crucial bridge” in India’s efforts in South-East Asia.
Despite her optimism, however, India’s relations with Bangladesh have seen some difficulties over the past few months. The problems crystallised following the adoption of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in 2019. The legal framework that developed following the passage of the two laws, in essence, provided minority religious communities in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan with citizenship in India. Further, several leaders of the BJP spoke of “sending back” illegal residents in India to Bangladesh. More recently, Bangladesh’s Border Guards Bangladesh also criticised India’s Border Security Force (BSF) for using disproportionate lethal force on the India-Bangladesh border. Further highlighting the cracks in the friendship, the Dhaka daily Bhorer Kagoj reported, “Indian High Commissioner Riva Ganguly Das tried for four months to get an appointment with the Prime Minister of Bangladesh but did not get it. Bangladesh has not even sent a note of appreciation to India in response to Indian assistance for the COVID-19 pandemic.”
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Moreover, speaking on the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya scheduled to be inaugurated on August 5, Bangladesh’s foreign minister, Abdul Kalam Abdul Momen said, “India and Bangladesh share a historic and arterial relationship. We will not allow this [temple construction] to hurt ties but I would still urge that India should not allow any development that fracture our beautiful and deep relationship. This is valid for both our countries and I would say both sides should work in such a way so that such disruptions can be averted.”
India has, however, attempted to revive its positive relations with Bangladesh. The first indication of this was the relief grants offered to Bangladesh to assist them in fighting the COVID-19 outbreak. Moreover, on Monday, representatives of India and Bangladesh are scheduled to attend a virtual meeting wherein India will give ten broad gauge locomotives. This will form a part of India’s grant assistance to Bangladesh. The meeting will be attended by Indian foreign minister S. Jaishankar and railway minister Piyush Goyal, along with their Bangladeshi counterparts AK Abdul Momen and Nurul Islam Sujan. Indian authorities said that the two countries were working together to improve Bangladesh’s railway connectivity and further restore India-Bangladesh railway connections. This move is crucial for India to counter the growing Chinese influence in Bangladesh and increase its economic presence to dissuade monopolisation by Chinese entities.