India must address Bangladesh’s challenges directly amid diplomatic tensions

India must come to terms sportingly with what Bangladeshis want rather than try to impose our code of conduct on the smaller nation.

Trains between Bangladesh and India have stopped running. There are three pairs of cross-border trains, but none are currently operating. Additionally, New Delhi has indefinitely shut down all Indian visa application centers (IVACs) across Bangladesh, effectively cutting off all people-to-people contact.

Dangerous Diplomatic Silence

But the biggest giveaway of the dangerous slide in India-Bangladesh relations is the radio silence after Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus sent a formal request for a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the United States on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly. Both leaders are scheduled to travel to New York this week, but Modi is clearly hesitant to meet Yunus, as the latter is likely to raise contentious issues such as the extradition of fugitive ex-premier Sheikh Hasina.

There are currently no indications that New Delhi will address Dhaka’s valid request for Yunus’ engagement with Modi. It would be beneficial for India to sit down with Yunus and clear the air to establish at least a functional relationship between the two countries.

Need for Comprehensive Engagement

I think India should shed its reluctance and meet ‘Bangladesh 2.0’ self-assuredly without any inhibitions to thrash out issues thrown up by the sudden regime change. Let’s start by acknowledging that there are indeed bilateral problems. And the right approach for a resident power is to confront them instead of avoiding discussing difficult issues. We have, no doubt, suffered a setback and we must sensibly accept the profound changes and new ground realities. But we should keep our chin up and talk rather than withdraw into our shell.

New Delhi’s inability to confirm a Modi-Yunus tete a tete in the Big Apple is of a piece with our High Commissioner in Dhaka Pranay Verma’s reticence to meet political players across the board in Bangladesh. He did call on Yunus soon after the 84-year-old Nobel Laureate took his turbulent country’s reins in his hands. But Verma has so far shied away from meeting the leadership of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Jamaat-e-Islami Party, Workers Party and Jatiya Party, not to mention the Awami League which is on the run, and other smaller outfits.

Ultimately, elections will be held and all these players, particularly the BNP and Jamaat, will be in the race to form the next government in Bangladesh. So it’s imperative to hold dialogues with each one of them instead of keeping them at arm’s length. No Bangladeshi politician will say “no” to Verma if he sounds them out for a meeting. I fail to understand what’s stopping him from talking to them. He had no problems interacting regularly with Hasina; the dapper diplomat must now diversify and play the field in our national interest.

To Verma’s credit, it must be said that while inexplicably abstaining from courting politicians of various hues, he is however interacting proactively with key Advisors in charge of various departments in the interim administration. He recently held sessions with ex-Foreign Secretary Muhammad Touhid Hossain, Foreign Affairs Advisor, retired Lieutenant General Alam Chaudhury, Home Affairs Advisor, Fauzul Kabir Khan, Energy Affairs Advisor, Salehuddin Ahmed, Economic Affairs Advisor and Fisheries Advisor Farida Akhtar.

Unresolved Issues

But this is simply not enough as Advisors are, after all, birds of passage and are no substitute for hard-core politicians who will inevitably occupy key posts in the elected government sooner than later. New Delhi should therefore start engaging with all the players in the political spectrum without losing any more time. As Chinese, Pakistani and British diplomats have stolen a march on us in this sphere, we have a lot of catching up to do. So, let’s get cracking.

At this critical juncture, India must come to terms sportingly with what Bangladeshis want rather than try to impose our code of conduct on the smaller nation. Let Bangladesh run its own affairs and decide what’s good for it. If Bangladeshis want to proclaim Mohammad Ali Jinnah instead of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the nation’s father, it’s really their business, not ours. If Urdu stages a comeback in Bangladesh, so be it. Gone are the days of micromanaging Bangladesh. We can’t be Big Brother anymore; at best we can be an elder brother!

Managing Bilateral Relations

If good sense prevails and India agrees to a Modi-Yunus meeting on American soil, Yunus is bound to raise not only the uncomfortable issue of sending Hasina back to Bangladesh to face trial, but also the alleged irregularities in the deal that the Hasina government signed with the Adani Group for supplying electricity. As South Asia’s tallest leader and India’s foremost spokesperson, Modi should address these concerns immediately and put Bangladesh at ease.

Because of the vicious disinformation campaign over treatment of Hindus in Bangladesh, there is every likelihood of the Bangladesh cricket team visiting India from September 19 being subjected to hostilities from the crowd in the stadiums. Authorities in India must therefore ensure that there are no Islamophobic chants aimed at the visitors as political agendas would ultimately hurt our national interests.