New Initiatives and leadership hopes bright India-Bangladesh Relation
Friday, February 5th, 2010
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s assurance that India would not take steps under the Tiparmukh project that would adversely affect Bangladesh should have been adequate
Bangladesh and India recenly developed their International relation .
For India, time is ticking in Bangladesh. All eyes are focused on New Delhi to see if and when it begins to implement the steps listed in the joint communiqué that the prime ministers of the two countries signed recently. Both ‘if’ and ‘when’ are important because since independence Bangladesh has felt that promises have been broken.
Talking to people from different fields, I found that the response to the joint communiqué was jubilant. One editor commented: “Bangladesh has put all its trust in India and if relations between the two countries get clouded, it would be India’s doing.”
I found that the Bangladeshis were willing to give six months for the assurances to fructify. The disillusionment will begin if the Indian bureaucracy sits on the files or works at its usual snail’s pace. Positive feelings may give way to a negative mood. Even worse would be the reappearance of fundamentalism, which has been defeated by Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina, who fought on the plank of pluralism and swept the polls.
Begum Klalida Zia, the opposition leader, was not forthcoming in her reply. She told me that she would like to have an “overall understanding with India at one go.” However, she did suspect that a certain understanding between Dhaka and New Delhi had “not been made public yet.”
Water is the litmus test. Before Hasina’s visit, Bangladesh expected India to be generous enough to give an undertaking that it would not touch any river flowing into Bangladesh without it’s consent. Now the expectation has come down to the assumption that the Teesta river will not be dammed in such a way that affects Bangladesh.
The joint communiqué is not so categorical because it only says that the discussions on the sharing of the Teesta between India and Bangladesh should be “concluded expeditiously.” The joint river commission is scheduled to meet in March after a lapse of seven years. I pray the talks succeed because disagreement on the Teesta may upset the whole apple cart.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s assurance that India would not take steps under the Tiparmukh project that would adversely affect Bangladesh should have been adequate. He has even allowed a team of parliament members from Bangladesh to visit the dam. Yet I found people apprehensive.
Sore point
Commerce is another sore point with Bangladesh. The balance is substantially in favour of India. If unofficial trade is counted, the deficits may well be around $6 billion (Dh22 billion). True, New Delhi has removed tariffs on all but 47 items. But the earnings from them may not be more than $10 to $15 million. Had India allowed zero-tariff access to whatever is manufactured in Bangladesh it would have been a gesture that could have impressed even the staunch opposition lobby.
No doubt, Hasina has shown courage in accepting something that should have been done long ago: India’s access to Mongola and Chittagong seaports, along with transport facilities by rail and road. The fallout in the shape of trade will definitely benefit Bangladesh. India will have a shorter and quicker way to reach the northeastern states. In exchange, Bangladesh has got the most important concession from India: access to Nepal and Bhutan. In fact, both Nepal and Bhutan have been wanting free contact with Bangladesh but New Delhi was dragging its feet.
However, the Bangladeshis have not forgiven India for the deaths of some 400-odd people on the border some time back. The Indian Border Security Force was reportedly conducting a counter-infiltration operation. Should the nationals of a friendly country be so easily fired on? The killing of so many people smacks of uncontrolled anger. On the other hand, Bangladesh should realise that nearly 20 million of its nationals are living in India illegally. Assam has been affected the most. The very complexion of the population has changed in the state.
I witnessed the birth of Bangladesh and its steady growth. When it parted company with West Pakistan, not many people gave Bangladesh much of a chance. Today, after nearly four decades of independence, not many people are pessimistic. Remittances from the Bangladeshis working abroad and the earnings from garments, primarily tailored by women, have given Bangladesh an annual growth rate of a little more than five per cent. Small farmers have made the countryside more or less self-sufficient.
India should feel encouraged that another democratic, pluralistic country is developing in the region. In Bangladesh the liberal world has a nation that has waded through a pool of blood to stay independent and democratic. A liberal, democratic Islamic state could be an example for the entire Muslim world.
I am keeping my fingers crossed because Hasina’s style of governance has a touch of authoritarianism. Indira Gandhi had the same trait and India had to pay the price during the two-year-rule of emergency. Hasina appears at times too impatient, too impressionable and too impetuous. She has more to fear from herself, rather than the hapless opposition.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina launched web portals of the country’s 64 districts from her office on Jan 06, 2010 (Wednesday), marking the first anniversary of her government.
To introduce farmers as national dignified worker Bangladesh Bank has directed the state-owned commercial and specialised banks to allow farmers to open accounts with an initial deposit of Tk 10 to get government subsidies without hassles.
