The trust deficit in India-Bangladesh ties
More than hundred days have passed since the Tarique Rahman government took charge in Bangladesh. However, contrary to early expectations from his leadership, India-Bangladesh relations
More than hundred days have passed since the Tarique Rahman government took charge in Bangladesh. However, contrary to early expectations from his leadership, India-Bangladesh relations have remained more or less the same as in the difficult months of the interim government. Actions, not rhetoric India reached out twice before Mr. Rahman became the Bangladesh Prime Minister. The first outreach was by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar who visited Dhaka on December 31, 2025 to condole the passing of Mr. Rahman’s mother, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. The second time was through Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, who carried Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation letter, and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla who on February 17 participated in the swearing-in ceremony of Mr. Rahman. But sources in the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) say such gestures in themselves are insufficient. An influential segment within the BNP feel that as a goodwill gesture towards the new government, India should have reversed some of the retributory steps that it had taken during the interim government’s rule under Muhammad Yunus. These steps included the restarting of transhipments for goods from Bangladesh, full restoration of visa services including business and medical visas, and stopping the restrictive market access for Bangladeshi goods. None of these measures have been implemented so far, as per Dhaka.
They argue that, by not reversing these decisions, India has not delivered any advance incentives to Mr. Rahman who will have to engage with the Jamaat-e-Islami and several anti-India student outfits before normalising ties with India. On its part, the BNP’s veteran leaders have tried to smoothen the relationship by creating greater public acceptability of the position that the presence of the deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in India will not hold ties back, a departure from the hardline stance that the interim government had taken. Here also, Dhaka feels that such attempts have not found appreciation from the Indian side. As proof they refer to the aggressive use of ‘illegal immigration’ in official communication from Delhi following the victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party in West Bengal and Assam. Bangladeshi diplomats have pointed out that Dhaka expected less rhetoric on sensitive issues such as illegal immigration, and more focus on issues such as visa restoration and the renewal of the 1996 Ganga Water Treaty. Dhaka had sent Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman to Delhi on April 7-8 for a brief visit, to test the waters, where he met Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Mr. Jaishankar. However, the election campaign in Assam and West Bengal around Bangladesh-related issues and a flurry of interviews by exiled PM Sheikh Hasina have displayed that Mr. Rahman’s BNP, despite winning a landslide majority in Bangladesh, has not managed to impress India.
The BriefWire