Political analysts in Bangladesh urge India to restore ties with Dhaka

The former diplomat said he felt that India and Bangladesh had two types of relations since independence in 1971 and even during the War of Independence | Photo: Shutterstock

I think understanding should be the starting point for resetting our relationship. We are interdependent and need each other to recalibrate our relationship, Humayun Kabir, head of leading think tank Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI), told PTI.

He said that India, as a neighbour of Bangladesh, was always there for us when we were in trouble. And now if they come and support us in the transition period, the people of Bangladesh will see India as a friend.

Kabir, a career diplomat, said India would benefit from positively supporting the ongoing transition in Bangladesh while building relationships with other political parties, rather than focusing on one person and party, taking into account the unique nature of the change.

Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS) Chairman Major General Muniruzzaman said India should face the reality in Bangladesh where a people’s revolution has taken place.

They (India) should stand on the right side of history and express their desire to work with the people of Bangladesh. For too long they have been seen as party comrades of a particular party and leader, he said, adding that bilateral ties should be based on people-to-people relations.

“We look forward to India’s friendship, which is based on our national interest,” he said while talking to PTI.

Debapriya Bhattacharya, a leading civil society figure and economist at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) of Bangladesh, said the relationship between Bangladesh and India is important for both countries from the perspective of peace, security and development.

Bangladesh, which respects the judgment of the Indian people, has been happy with the BJP government after the Congress was forced to give up power. India should do the same now that the Awami League regime has been ousted by a student and citizen uprising, Bhattacharya told PTI.

He said that India should rebuild the relationship in the coming days on the basis of trust and mutual interests. The country should not remain hostage to any particular political party in the respective country. The relationship should be based on consensus between both parties and both countries should work towards that.

We must also take into account that the religious minority community in one country is the majority in the other country. Therefore, the treatment of the minority community in our respective countries will be an important variable in our relationship, Bhattacharya added.

According to analysts, the chemistry between Hasina and Modi is very good as India has been dependent on Hasina for the past 16 years to strengthen bilateral ties while ignoring other political groups.

The CEO of BEI said that Bangladesh has faced two difficult realities in the last 15 years. The first reality was the kind of authoritarian government that engulfed the entire society, where the rights of the people, the voices of the people, the privacy of the people were subjected to some kind of political agenda, he said.

And we know how and what happened with regard to the (last three) elections. That was a reality that created a suffocating environment, he said.

Kabir said the new reality unfolded with the student movement in the last month and the entire community joined them, leading to the ouster of the 15-year-old regime of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on August 5.

Referring to the report of the UN Commissioner for Human Rights published two days ago, which stated that at least 650 people have been killed in the past month, the former diplomat stressed that the massacre has qualitatively changed the whole context.

Now, with regard to our Indian friends, they have to understand these two dynamics. Only then will they perhaps understand how Bangladesh is transforming over the last 15 years, but especially over the last month and ultimately there has been a fall of the government, he said.

The former diplomat said he believed that India and Bangladesh had maintained bipartisan relations since independence in 1971 and even during the War of Independence.

“One between the two governments and secondly between the people of the two countries. That is what we experienced during the War of Independence, when the Indian people opened their hearts, the Indian government gave us full support and then helped in the process of establishing Bangladesh as a nation state,” he said.

Kabir said he was convinced that the two countries are connected as neighbours at multiple levels and we are interdependent.

But the former diplomat, who previously served as deputy high commissioner to India, said his sense was that our Indian friends sometimes misunderstand the changes that have taken place in Bangladesh, especially in the past month.

However, Kabir said that there was also a reason for that lack of understanding, because it happened so quickly and was so profound and intense. It is possible that they (India) could not see how it happened, or they have a different perspective on it, or they are looking at it from a traditional perspective.

The BEI Director General said that he now expects that India, as a neighbour and friend, will understand the urges, aspirations and desires of the people of Bangladesh, especially the aspirations of the younger generation, which is supported by the common people.

That is why we have seen a revolution which some call a monsoon revolution, others call it the Bengal Spring, and so on.

Kabir said that in India too, there was some kind of misinformation being spread about minorities and such.

I think we understand that there has been violence in some places, not only against minorities but also against the majority community. It is a huge political transformation that has taken place, but violence is not desirable, he said.

Kabir said he expected India to understand the real context of the violence and support Bangladesh, especially after the talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Professor Yunus.