Prime Minister Modi’s Bangladesh Maitri, a diplomatic story in a political cloak

 New Delhi: The recent Bangladesh visit of Prime Minister Modi was a
significant one for many reasons. It not only was his first overseas visit after
the Covid pandemic but was a very deftly chosen one. What made it unique was
that other than strengthening bilateral relations and promoting our Neighborhood First and Act East policy there was a huge political messaging
that underlined the visit. An election across the border in West Bengal and a
China containment strategy in the larger perspective was well served as the motive
behind the visit that geopolitical analysts would agree.  A visit to temple Jeshoreshwari Kali Temple,
one of the 51 shakti peeths in the puranic tradition, a shrine in a town that
stands cheek by jowl with West Bengal’s 24 parganas, again a hindu bastion, a stop
at Matua temple, a schedule caste community that inhabits 40 constituencies of
West Bengal and estimated at not less than 20 lakhs and with presence in at
least six parliamentary seats of West Bengal was hitting two birds with one
stone. Compounded to it the worry about CAA and NRC in the community is a
concerning factor that needed calming. The community is important for a number
of reasons as the Matuas have emerged as a key sect in the Bharatiya Janata
Party’s attempts to storm Bengal.

The anniversary of Bangabandhu Mujeebur Rehman’s was an occasion
that marked 50 years Bangladesh’s independence. Prime Minister referred to it as
Triveni, the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and
Bangladesh, the 50th anniversary of the Bangladesh Liberation War and Mujib
Borsho, the 100th birth anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. 

Nevertheless it will be worthwhile enumerating the plethora
of outreach programmes and MoUs signed during this visit that made the Prime
Minister’s visit to our eastern neighbor significant.  

A ceremonial welcome by Prime Minister Sheikh Haseena was
followed by visit to the National Martyrs Memorial at Savar where PM Modi
interacted with community leaders, members of the 14-party Alliance, opposition
party, youth icons and valiant Mukhtijoddhas signaled a good beginning. On the
occasion of the National Day celebration of Bangladesh Prime Minister Modi
announced a grant of 1000 Subarno Jayanti Scholarships for youth to study in
India and invited 50 young entrepreneurs from Bangladesh, to visit India and
present their ideas to venture.

India conferred Gandhi Peace Prize posthumously on Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman. Both the Prime Ministers inaugurated the Bangladesh leg of the
Bangabandhu-Bapu Digital Exhibition. Prime Minister Modi then visited Satkhira
and offered prayers at the Jeshoreshwari Kali Temple, one of the 51 shakti
peeths in the puranic tradition where he announced a grant for the construction
of a cyclone shelter cum community centre in Satkhira. After a visit to the
Bangabandhu Mausoleum complex at Tungipara the Prime Minister visited Orakandi
where he met representatives of the Matua community and announced plans to
support upgradation of a middle school for girls and the construction of a
primary school in the Orakandi area.

Bilateral discussion included how the two countries could
preserve the legacy and spirit of 1971, commerce and connectivity, cooperation
and water resources, security, defence, power and energy and new areas like
artificial intelligence, environment, societal applications of nuclear energy
etc as also new areas which Prime Minister called ‘Nayi Urja, Nayi gati’ (new
energy, new path).

Other significant decisions that were taken were
establishment of the Bangabandhu chair in Delhi University, renaming the
Bangladesh segment of the road “Svadheenta Sadak”. The Prime Minister
proposed that India and Bangladesh should organise a business exhibition which
he referred to as the ‘Best of India Best of Bangladesh’. Both Prime Ministers
jointly unveiled stamps.  They decided to
celebrate the 6th of December, the day on which India formally recognised
Bangladesh as Maitri Divas. A war memorial in Bangladesh at Ashuganj, in
recognition of the contribution of Indian soldiers who were martyred during the
Liberation War of 1971 has been erected.

Celebrations of our ties jointly will be held in 19
countries. Foundation stone for five packages of the Rooppur power evacuation
project, which is an important component of the third line of credit that India
has extended to Bangladesh was laid. There are a total of eight packages and the
transmission line costs over a billion dollars.

Three border haats on the borders between the two countries and
new facilities at the Rabindra Bhabhan at Kuthibari with Indian grant
assistance were inaugurated. To further strengthen people to people
connectivity, the two sides have also agreed to start a new passenger train
service called Mitali Express between New Jalpaiguri and Dhaka, starting from
Dhaka cantonment on the recently restored Chilahati-Haldibari rail links. The
rail link connects North Bangladesh with North Bengal in the state of West
Bengal.

Earlier this month, both Prime Ministers had jointly
inaugurated the Maitri Setu, the road bridge connecting Tripura with Bangladesh
on the Feni river, a very important point of connectivity between India and
Bangladesh.

A number of agreements and Memorandums of Understanding were
also signed during the visit in areas of disaster management, trade remedial
measures, two development partnership projects, and between the National Cadet
Corps of the two countries.

To reinforce cooperation in health sector India announced
the gifting of 109 life support ambulances to support Bangladesh’s plans to
strengthen its medical emergency response systems.

Under India’s Vaccine Maitri programme, Bangladesh was
provided 102 million doses or one crore two lakh doses of vaccines of which 32
lakhs have been delivered as gifts under grant in aid and the rest as
commercial. Bangladesh is the largest recipient of made in India vaccines for
our Neighbourhood First policy. This figure of 1.02 crores includes the 12 lakh
doses or 1.2 million doses that the Prime Minister gifted personally on arrival
in Bangladesh from India’s own supplies.

Bangladesh having upgraded from LDC status, India is
committed to continue giving support to Bangladesh in infrastructure development,
capacity building or in the areas of health capacity building or power
generation. India’s lines of credit have not only helped in infrastructure
development and connectivity and in green projects but in a number of other projects
like high tech parks in 12 districts, solid waste management etc. other than in
new areas like civil nuclear cooperation and working together in the area of
space.

India and Bangladesh relationship has grown stronger and
more multifaceted. Today our ties transcend even a strategic partnership which
is very important in the backdrop of increasing Chinese belligerence in the
Indo Pacific and the ASEAN region. As the world is becoming multipolar its
important for India to reforge and strengthen relations with neighbours as its
the need of the hour.  

Tags: #India Bangladesh relations, #PM Modi’s Bangladesh visit 2021, #West Bengal elections 2021, #Priti Prakash Blog, #International relations, #Matua community

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