Indian PM Modi to visit Bangladesh soon!

-Dr. Abdul Ruff

_____________

According to highly placed diplomatic sources in New Delhi, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to make his first official visit to Bangladesh in the first week of June. The premier has been “eagerly waiting” to visit Dhaka, said the diplomat.  This would be PM Modi’s  first  visit to a Muslim nation. Earlier, PM Modi was to visit another Muslim nation Maladies as part of his tour of South Asia seas but he cancelled it citing  unfavorable domestic  situation in Mali.

Officials in Bangladesh and India said both the governments were working to find a mutually convenient time for Modi’s trip to Dhaka. PM Modi made a commitment to visit Dhaka after resolving at least one of the two major pending issues — Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) and Teesta water sharing deal. As the LBA is done now, his visit to Bangladesh is confirmed. However, another source in Dhaka said Modi would be visiting Dhaka by the second week of June.

The Indian PM’s visit to Bangladesh will contribute positively to Indo-Bangla relations, said an Indian diplomat in Dhaka. Modi has already visited Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka in South Asia. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina first invited Modi to visit Bangladesh when she phoned her opposite number on May 18 last year to congratulate him on his party’s victory in the national election. Later that month, she wrote a letter to Modi inviting him to tour Bangladesh. The Indian premier in a letter to Hasina in the following month said he accepted the invitation. He also invited Hasina to visit India. PM Modi in March this year wrote another letter to his Bangladesh counterpart. Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar handed over the letter to Hasina on March 2.

Meanwhile, India’s Rajya Sabha, the  upper house of parliament,  on May 06 passed the landmark constitution amendment bill to ratify the long-pending LBA with Bangladesh. Seeking to settle decades-old border issues with Bangladesh, the Indian Parliament unanimously passed a historic bill to operationalise the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement and its 2011 protocol. Minutes after the bill’s passage, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina and described the bill’s passage as a “historic milestone” in bilateral ties between the two countries. “Spoke to Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina and conveyed my greetings to the people of Bangladesh on this landmark occasion,” the Indian PM said in a post on social networking site Twitter. Talking to Hasina after the bill’s passage, Modi said the LBA “would contribute to a stable and peaceful boundary, better management and coordination of the border and will lead to enhanced security as well.” Modi, who posted a number of messages on Twitter, said, “Today a historic milestone has been reached in India-Bangladesh relations after the passing of the Constitutional Amendment by Parliament.  “This reflects the collective will of the nation to build constructive relations with our neighbours”, he said in a separate post.

Earlier, showing rare unanimity, all 331 members present in the 542-strong Lok Sabha, the Lower House of parliament, voted for the bill. As the bill got through, Modi walked up to the Opposition benches to thank leaders, including Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi and its leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, for their support.

The bonhomie among India’s ruling BJP and opposition parties over the LBA was evident in the fact that not a single “no” vote was cast when the bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha. The bill aims at giving effect to acquisition of territories by India and transfer of territories to Bangladesh and exchange of enclaves in line with the 1974 agreement. The territories in Assam, West Bengal, Tripura and Meghalaya come under the ambit of the bill. In Bangladesh, territories in Nilphamari, Feni, Moulvibazar, Kushtia and Panchagarh come under the domain of the pact.

Speaking on the bill, Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who moved it, said the only issue yet to be settled with Bangladesh was water-sharing, primarily relating to the Teesta river. “The way in which we are now settling the land boundary issue, we will try to settle this issue also,” she said. During the nearly three-hour debate on the bill in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj said it was beneficial for both the countries, and that there would be a “notional” loss of territory without borders getting contracted. She said India would get 510 acres of land while Bangladesh will receive 10,000 acres. “But these are notional figures as these areas are deep inside territories of the two countries. Our borders are not getting contracted.” Swaraj said the measure, apart from demarcating the boundaries, would also help check illegal immigration. “A solution to the problem of illegal immigration is inherent in this legislation. With the land border now being decided [with the passage of the bill], the portions where there is no fencing will also get fenced,” she said.

The maritime boundary between India and Bangladesh was settled last year through an international tribunal. Refuting allegations of India’s “big brotherly” attitude towards its South Asian neighbours, Swaraj said, “One is ‘big brother’ which symbolises arrogance. But there is also the ‘elder brother’ who is caring".  Swaraj made references to the 1974 LBA signed by Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and its protocol inked during former Indian PM Manmohan Singh’s Bangladesh visit in 2011 to pave the way for exchange of Bangladeshi and Indian territorial enclaves. The Indian external affairs minister said she has been “transparent” in stating that her party BJP was earlier opposed to the bill. It was primarily because of concerns that Assam’s interests would be adversely affected. She said Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who had earlier expressed some reservations on similar lines, wrote to the PM and her, urging the Centre to include the clauses relating to the state.

Meanwhile, the Bangladeshi opposition BNP last night thanked Modi, his government, and leaders of the political parties that played a vital role in the passage of the LBA bill. Briefing journalists at party’s Nayapaltan central office, BNP Spokesperson Asaduzzaman Ripon claimed Bangladesh would lose around 500 acres of land once the agreement is implemented. He, however, didn’t elaborate on his claim. Asked, he said the party would come up with details after going through the deal.

Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Syed Muazzem Ali, who watched the debate and the bill’s passage in the Lok Sabha, said later that Dhaka is expecting a visit by the Indian PM in the first week of next month. He, however, hastened to add that no date was finalized yet.

The people of Bangladesh are closely watching the election-related developments in India. Reports say that the Sheikh Hasina regime wants to see a stable government in India for all round development of the region. In some quarters, questions have been raised about the future of India-Bangla ties following the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Many of them believe that Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) domestic programs and political ideology would influence India’s neighbourhood policy, particularly in the light of Narendra Modi’s repeated assertion of initiating tough measures against the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.

Bangladesh is placed between the two Asian giants—India and China. Dhaka has to constantly balance its ties between New Delhi and Beijing. India surrounds Bangladesh from three sides and has more influence than any other nation. Despite India’s inability to fulfill all the pledges and implement the agreements signed, Dhaka-New Delhi relations remained cordial during 2009-14. There has been an increasing realisation among the policy makers of both the countries that they need each other’s cooperation in the changing geo-political and economic scenarios at the regional and global level. 

Good relations between India and Bangladesh will have positive influence on the region. Regional countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and Thailand would benefit from trade and transit connectivity between India and Bangladesh. The Indian PM’s visit would provide an opportunity to take India-Bangladesh relations to a higher trajectory, even if not beinga ble to move towards a strategic partnership. The significance of strong India-Bangladesh ties goes beyond the bilateral context.