Bilateral relationships between Bangladesh and India are now set to reshape following some recent hiccups after the fall of Sheikh Hasina's Awami League government on August 5 in the wake of mass political upheavals led by students.
Although in a first reaction after the ouster of Sheikh Hasina, Indian High Commissioner to Dhaka Pranay Verma on Wednesday said his government was interested in advancing relationships with the interim government headed by Prof Muhammad Yunus, it remains to be seen in the coming days how both countries would mend their fences.
However, Bangladesh Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain earlier in a press conference hinted at retaining the relationships mostly based on interests rather than based only on friendships, a trend the previous government was said to be adhering to. He also made it clear that Sheikh Hasina's stay in India would not impact the bilateral relations in any way.
Judged by both countries' knee-jerk reactions, it is understood that both Bangladesh and India are keen to continue their friendly age-old historic relationships in the interests of both countries in years to come.
But, first of all, India probably needs to bring about some changes to its foreign policies which have long been placing emphasis on its friendly governments in the neighboring countries rather than on the people's desires and sentiments of those states. For a long lasting friendship, there is no alternative to taking citizens' concerns and expectations into consideration.
In the case of Bangladesh, Delhi had not taken into consideration people's sentiments as it was fully reliant on the government to serve its interests. As a result, Bangladeshi citizens in general had increasingly grown restive towards India.
Evidently, India did whatever was possible on its part to bring the Awami League to power during the last three consecutive national elections in 2014, 2018 and 2024 which were widely described by the Western governments as unacceptable, unfair and non-participatory.
In addition, Bangladesh has not long been in a win-win position in its relationships with India as it is said the former was giving more than it was receiving from its closest neighbor. As a result, there are some sore outstanding issues between the two countries which have remained unresolved. The first and foremost one is Teesta water sharing and the renewal of the Ganga water sharing treaty which expires by 2026.
Teesta water sharing has been unresolved for many years. Bangladesh once was about to strike a deal on the Teesta water sharing in 2011 during the visit by the then Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh to Dhaka. But it did not see the light in the last moment following a disagreement by the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Indiscriminate border killing of Bangladeshi people by the members of the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) is another protracted contentious issue that has stymied bilateral relationships. But the Home Affairs Adviser of the interim government Brig Gen (retd) M Shakhawat Hossain has given a strong message when he said BSF personnel will not be allowed to enter Bangladesh territory to kill its people.
The people of Bangladesh believe that Narendra Modi government will realize the changed political scenario in Bangladesh and reshape its foreign policy based on people's desires and on equal bilateral interests as well.
