India-Bangladesh Ties: India and Bangladesh held wide-ranging talks Monday during the visit of Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, who called on the Chief Adviser of the interim government of Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus, apart from meeting Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain and Foreign Secretary Md Jashim Uddin.
Misri’s meetings with the Bangladesh leadership mark the first high-level visit from New Delhi to Dhaka after the recent public unrest and political turmoil that led to the fall of the Awami League government under former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August. Hasina eventually took refuge in India. Ties between India and Bangladesh have taken a major hit in the aftermath of the turmoil.
The interaction on Monday could be seen as easing of tensions between the two close neighbours, with Misri also raising India’s concerns about the safety and welfare of minorities, particularly that of the Hindu community.
Speaking to journalists after the meetings in Dhaka, Misri said, “Today’s discussions have given both of us the opportunity to take stock of our relations, and I appreciate the opportunity today to have a frank, candid, and constructive exchange of views with all my interlocutors.”
He added, “I emphasised that India desires a positive, constructive, and mutually beneficial relationship with Bangladesh.”
The foreign secretary emphasised that people are the “main stakeholders” in India-Bangladesh relations, and noted that India’s development cooperation and multifaceted engagements with Bangladesh, including in the areas of connectivity, trade, power, energy and capacity-building, are all geared towards the benefit of the people of Bangladesh, according to a readout issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
At the meeting, the readout noted, Misri “also raised some regrettable incidents of attacks on cultural, religious and diplomatic properties”. He conveyed India’s concerns on these matters, it added.
So far, since Hasina’s ouster, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken to Yunus once over the phone, after the Nobel Laureate assumed office on August 8. Following this, in September, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met his counterpart Hossain on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
The Foreign Secretary is on a hurricane tour to Dhaka for the India-Bangladesh Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) — a regular dialogue mechanism between the countries that has been going on for several years. The last India-Bangladesh FOC was held in November 2023.
During the meeting, Misri was accompanied by High Commissioner of India to Dhaka Pranay Verma.
“There is no reason why this mutually beneficial cooperation should not continue to deliver in the interest of both our peoples. And, to that end, therefore, I have underlined today India’s desire to work closely with the interim government of Bangladesh,” Misri told reporters. “At the same time, we also had the opportunity to discuss certain recent developments and issues, and I conveyed our concerns, including those related to the safety and welfare of minorities.”
Last month, Bangladeshi authorities arrested a prominent Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, who is believed to be affiliated to ISKCON Bangladesh, over sedition charges. This incident gave rise to massive protests across India with members of the Hindu community calling for India’s intervention.
India-Bangladesh Relationship ‘People-Centric, People-Oriented’
During the FOC, Misri met his Bangladeshi counterpart Jashim Uddin, and emphasised that India’s relationship with Bangladesh is based on strong people-to-people links.
“We have always seen in the past, and we continue to see, in the future, this relationship as a people-centric and people-oriented relationship, one that has the benefit of all the people as its central motivational force,” Misri told journalists.
He said India continues to remain engaged in the development projects there that have been executed on the ground.
The foreign secretary added, “There are mutually beneficial engagements we have on a whole set of issues ranging from trade, commerce, connectivity, power, water, and energy, and development cooperation, consular cooperation, and cultural cooperation. There is no reason why this mutually beneficial cooperation should not continue to deliver in the interests of both our peoples.”
