Taking India-Bangladesh relations to a new height

We wholeheartedly welcome Indian Prime Minister Narendra Damodordas Modi’s visit to Bangladesh and are confident that this visit will help take the relations between the two neighbours to newer heights. It is expected that the two sides will firm up a number of pacts to boost cooperation besides ratifying the long-pending Land Boundary Agreement (LBA). Also interesting is the fact that regarding the visit of Narendra Modi, Bangladesh has witnessed an unprecedented unanimity among rival political parties, with the ruling Awami League and their biggest rival political party BNP on the same plane over having better ties with India.
Bangladesh will always be grateful for India’s support during our Liberation War, where they not only helped us militarily but provided shelter to over 10 million people. In the few years following Bangladesh’s independence the relationship was excellent and could be cited as an example of how ties between two neighbours should ideally be. Unfortunately things changed after the brutal massacre of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members. Bangladesh was under military regimes for decades and these regimes deliberately fomented anti-Indian sentiments among many Bangladeshis. Even in policymaking there was a marked anti-Indian bias. At times relations between India and Bangladesh reached hostile levels.
When Awami League won the elections and assumed power in 1996 Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took special initiatives to take Indo-Bangladesh ties back to its halcyon days of post-1971 years. The Indian government too made reciprocal gestures and things, barring a few hiccups, have progressed smoothly since.
When the BJP-led alliance came to power in Delhi there were scepticisms in both countries about the future of Indo-Bangladesh ties. However the current Indian government has shown pragmatism and continued its predecessor’s policies regarding India’s neighbours. In fact BJP has been proactive in pursuing and solving outstanding regional issues and the recent developments between Bangladesh and India have boosted Narendra Modi’s image as a leader who “can get things done.”
We want that the bonds between the two neighbours will strengthen even farther. Better ties will result in a win-win scenario for both India and Bangladesh. Teesta still remains an outstanding issue which must be tackled in an emergency basis. Stronger inter-regional connectivity is indeed a good sign. But the progress so far is only the beginning. There are many other ways this can be further developed. We believe that India and Bangladesh are going to be involved in more ways than before. And this visit by Narendra Modi will remain a historic landmark in the shared history of the two countries.

 

Taking India-Bangladesh relations to a new height

We wholeheartedly welcome Indian Prime Minister Narendra Damodordas Modis visit to Bangladesh and are confident that this visit will help take the relations between the two neighbours to newer heights. It is expected that the two sides will firm up a number of pacts to boost cooperation besides ratifying the long-pending Land Boundary Agreement (LBA). Also interesting is the fact that regarding the visit of Narendra Modi, Bangladesh has witnessed an unprecedented unanimity among rival political parties, with the ruling Awami League and their biggest rival political party BNP on the same plane over having better ties with India. Bangladesh will always be grateful for Indias support during our Liberation War, where they not only helped us militarily but provided shelter to over 10 million people. In the few years following Bangladeshs independence the relationship was excellent and could be cited as an example of how ties between two neighbours should ideally be. Unfortunately things changed after the brutal massacre of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members. Bangladesh was under military regimes for decades and these regimes deliberately fomented anti-Indian sentiments among many Bangladeshis. Even in policymaking there was a marked anti-Indian bias. At times relations between India and Bangladesh reached hostile levels. When Awami League won the elections and assumed power in 1996 Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took special initiatives to take Indo-Bangladesh ties back to its halcyon days of post-1971 years. The Indian government too made reciprocal gestures and things, barring a few hiccups, have progressed smoothly since. When the BJP-led alliance came to power in Delhi there were scepticisms in both countries about the future of Indo-Bangladesh ties. However the current Indian government has shown pragmatism and continued its predecessors policies regarding Indias neighbours. In fact BJP has been proactive in pursuing and solving outstanding regional issues and the recent developments between Bangladesh and India have boosted Narendra Modis image as a leader who can get things done. We want that the bonds between the two neighbours will strengthen even farther. Better ties will result in a win-win scenario for both India and Bangladesh. Teesta still remains an outstanding issue which must be tackled in an emergency basis. Stronger inter-regional connectivity is indeed a good sign. But the progress so far is only the beginning. There are many other ways this can be further developed. We believe that India and Bangladesh are going to be involved in more ways than before. And this visit by Narendra Modi will remain a historic landmark in the shared history of the two countries.