Blame the Tripura dam or Bangladesh rain? Current India-Bangladesh 'worst' flood politics explained

Flood situation in Bangladesh (courtesy: X)

The ongoing tensions between India and Bangladesh regarding cross-border river management have come to the forefront following the exceptionally heavy rainfall in Tripura. Several reports in Bangladesh, particularly on social media, blamed India's decision to open a dam in Tripura for the floods.

This rainfall, the worst in decades, led to widespread flooding in Tripura's capital Agartala, with over 80% of the city waterlogged after receiving 233mm of rain in just 24 hours.

#Bangladesh: India's Reckless Actions Are Worsening the Flood Crisis in Southeast BangladeshFor the first time in generations, Bangladesh's entire southeastern region is facing its worst flooding in history affecting millions of people. The cause? Indian authorities opened the pic.twitter.com/GK5JzLLBcz
Sultan Mohammed Zakaria (@smzakaria) August 21, 2024

The flooding downstream in Bangladesh worsened after heavy rain in the country affecting eight districts and over 1.7 million people. Bangladesh has expressed concerns over India’s handling of the Dumbur dam’s operations, claiming that the sudden release of water without prior notice worsened the situation.

Dismissing claims that the recent floods in eastern Bangladesh were caused by the opening of a dam in Tripura, the Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement on August 22: “We would like to point out that the catchment areas of Gumti river that flows through India and Bangladesh have witnessed heaviest rains of this year over the last few days. The flood in Bangladesh is primarily due to waters from these large catchments downstream of the (Dumbur) dam."

India has said that the flooding is a shared issue due to the two countries’ geographical proximity and the fact that they share 54 cross-border rivers.

Mohammad Nahid Islam, one of the advisers to Bangladesh's interim govt, alleged that India’s “non-cooperation” was the reason for the flooding. “Without any prior warning and without giving us time for preparation, the dam was opened. Through this India showed an inhuman approach and is demonstrating non-cooperation with Bangladesh,” Islam told reporters.

“We hope India will abandon such anti-people policies against Bangladesh as soon as possible. The students and people of Bangladesh are angered by this policy of India,” Nahid added, further criticizing India.

However, promising full cooperation, the MEA clarified: “Heavy rainfall has been continuing since 21 August in the whole of Tripura and adjoining districts of Bangladesh. In the event of heavy inflow, automatic releases have been observed. Data showing rising trend has been supplied to Bangladesh upto 1500 hrs on 21 August 2024. At 1800 hrs, due to flooding, there was power outage leading to problems of communication. Still, we have tried to maintain communication through other means created for urgent transmission of data.”.