According to Bangladesh’s state-owned news agency, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina has accepted an invitation to visit India for the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Hindu reported before that during 18th Lok Sabha elections, PM Hasina had congratulated PM Narendra Modi on their performance.
“On behalf of my country and myself, I wish to congratulate you most warmly on your resounding victory in the 18th Lok Sabha elections for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the Bharatiya Janata Party. You have our expectations,” said Prime Minister Hasina in a telephone conversation with Mr. Modi.
According to The Hindu sources, June 21 or 22 is presently under consideration but the last week of June is also being planned since it comes closer to Eid holidays in Bangladesh.
Therefore, Ms. Hasina’s visit will be highly symbolic as New Delhi would like it to show that Indian-Bangladeshi bilateral relation is a positive one especially since Ms. Hasina is expected to travel to China in July.
Moreover, Government of Bangladesh which will present its annual budget on Thursday has been facing high inflation and Ms. Hasina’s presence during this particular visit can promote undisturbed foreign trade with commodities coming from India. Food price driven May inflation rate at 9.89% touched an all-time high raising widespread alarm about overall health of Bangladesh economy.
As per sources quoted by Dhaka Tribune, if some essentials like rice and onion get disrupted due to non-supply from India into Bangladesh then this could deteriorate inflationary situation in neighboring country further while sharing such information with straight face with deep concern they added that trade and concerns over export of goods from India would dominate discussions during bilateral talks.
PM Hasina’s forthcoming trip will be notable also because West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who has often been perceived as a barrier by Dhaka against getting Teesta river water has won 29 seats in the general election with her Trinamool Congress party. After the election results, Ms. Banerjee has become even more critical of Mr. Modi and she has also joined other parties that oppose him which means that there is no way to reconcile Delhi and Kolkata on sharing of the river water for now.
Indian concerns over Teesta have been further intensified due to China’s growing interest in Dhaka’s Teesta River Comprehensive Management and Restoration Project which led to a deadlock in bilateral dialogue between two countries. Indian sources had hinted that this issue was brought up during Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra’s visit to Dhaka last month. Commenting when Mr. Kwatra met PM Hasina, Bangladeshi FM Hasan Mahmood said, “You know we have taken on a big project on the Teesta. India wants to finance that. We said the project will have to be in accordance with our needs, it must fulfil our needs.”
