Certain events happening across the border in India in recent times have encouraged the ‘India Watchers’ in Bangladesh to ask ‘is Bangladesh-India Friendship on the wane’? The answer certainly is NO; it is not on the wane but at times certain events do raise concerns in Bangladesh and give enough fuel to a section of people to beef up the anti-India feeling in Bangladesh. The unfortunate events may cause concerns in Bangladesh but surely the bondage between the two countries during our War of Liberation in 1971 has carved out a permanent chapter of fraternity in the history of both nations. The chapter in written with blood of the people of both countries who shed their blood in 1971 and the bondage of friendship is tied between the people of two countries with threads woven by the sacrifices made by the neighbouring Indian States of Bangladesh who provided shelter to the ten million Bangladeshis fleeing from the atrocities of Pakistani soldiers and their lackeys in this country and shared their homes and food.

When 1947 the British left Indian sub-continent, two new countries – India and Pakistan – were created.  From the very beginning the relationship between both the countries were strained and they even fought two wars, one in 1947-1948 and the other one in 1965 both involving the disputed territory of Kashmir. As of now Kashmir issue seems buried excepting occasional militant attacks from across the Indian border killing innocent civilians and members of Indian armed forces.  During these two brief wars the then East Bengal, now Bangladesh was not harmed in any way. This was seen as a good gesture from India.

The new chapter of friendship between the two countries began when Indira Gandhi of Congress was the Prime Minister of India and she played a key role in the emergence of Bangladesh in 1971. Since her assassination on October 31, 1984 there were a number of Prime Ministers who led the government in India who belonged not only to the Indian National Congress, but also to a coalition of different likeminded parties. The first BJP led government was formed in 1996 under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee (it lasted only 13 days). Vajpayee belonged to BJP and served as India’s Prime Minster on three different occasions. BJP, a party which is considered a political front of RSS and other ultra-rightist fundamentalist political forces whose political ideology is based on ‘Hindutva’ (India for Hindus), when in power earlier did not try to disturb the existing friendly relationship between the two countries until now. In recent times a certain section of BJP politicians went beyond their limit and seems to be bent on driving a wedge between Bangladesh and India and disturbing the existing friendly relationship. The recent bone of contention seems to be the China factor.

In the early years of India’s independence both India and China enjoyed a warm friendly relationship so much so that the popular slogan was ‘Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai.’ The first India Prime Minster to visit China was Jawaharlal Nehru in October 1954. Nehru met Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong and both leaders agreed to forge a bilateral relationship based on dignity and respect. As expected the visit and the agreement was not taken in good earnest by US or even by then USSR. In 1954 India was going through experimenting with different forms of wishy-washy democracy and China was an impoverished nation regularly visited by natural disaster and experienced acute food shortage at regular intervals. But after the death of Nehru the relationship took a nose dive and both countries currently are poised to begin a limited war over its long land boundary. In 1962 both India and China even fought a full-fledged war in its northern border. Since then both countries could never regain the spirit of friendship forged by Nehru and Mao Zedong though China still remains one of the biggest trading partners of India. In 2017 there was even standoff between armies of the two countries at Dokhlam border close to Bhutan. India regularly complains that China has occupied parts of its territories at different times.

Bangladesh’s close friendship with China is seen with suspicion by India in spite of the fact that China is a big developing partner of Bangladesh and a big trade partner of India.  Chinese investment in development of infrastructure in Bangladesh currently is all time high and India apprehends that Bangladesh is falling into a Chinese debt trap as did Sri Lanka. Obviously such development needs to be closely monitored and no one would like to see the fate of Bangladesh as that of Sri Lanka.

Because of its location Bangladesh has been in focus not only by India but also by countries like US, Japan, Australia. To contain the growing influence of China in the Indo-Pacific region these countries along with India formed a loose security co-operation amongst them, named ‘Quad’   expecting that Bangladesh will also join the initiative which Bangladesh did not and as expected none of these countries, especially US and India were happy with the decision of Bangladesh. Bangladesh’s foreign policy is embedded in the doctrine of ‘friendship towards all and malice towards none’ as announced by the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the early days of independent Bangladesh. But neither India nor US would express their feeling about Bangladesh not joining Quad in public.

Recently quite a few Indian diplomats expressed their uneasiness and dissatisfaction about Chinese projects in Bangladesh. Even  the India External Affairs Minister  Subramanian Jaishankar said in the just concluded 58th Munich Security Conference that Bangladesh should be careful about loan dependent projects and avoid those projects those are not economically viable. He cited the example of airport terminal which is deemed redundant as the country (read Hajrat Shah Jalal International Airport’s third terminal) does not have enough air traffic for the additional terminal. Answering to the concerns of Mr. Jaishankar Dr. Momen said both India and Japan finances construction of infrastructure facilities in Bangladesh but the amount of such assistance is getting smaller whereas the demand for finance to develop infrastructure in Bangladesh is increasing fast. In such a situation to take a decision is not always easy. He continued and said more finance from its development partners are needed but also reiterated the fact that such finances are usually tied with difficult conditions. Currently World Bank, IMF and ADB are the biggest development partners of Bangladesh. He also did not hide the fact that China is always ready to offer such assistance but Bangladesh is careful while taking development assistance not only from China but also from other countries too. It should be noted that Bangladesh has seldom defaulted in paying back either its loans or interest and service charges. However such type of interference in the process of economic development of Bangladesh does not help in increasing the warmth in the relationship between both the countries.

Adding to the China factor in the recent times some senior BJP politicians also came out with  quite a few irresponsible remarks which includes the perceived ‘illegal’ Bangladeshis ‘residing  in India’ as termites while one  former cabinet minister audaciously remarked that if given a chance half of Bangladesh will enter India in search of food. He  forgets  that the people of Bangladesh surely have their problems but they are is no reason why any such thing would happen as though the common people may not live in abundance but have enough food to feed themselves and even their visiting Indian friends and relatives. Then came the unnecessary Hijab issue in Karnataka which has spread across the country. The issue is in contradiction to Indian constitution that guarantees religious freedom. This has not gone well with 204 million Muslims in India. If millions of Sadhus can go around without a thread on their body why wearing Hijab by a section of Muslim girls should be an issue?  This will surely bolster the evil spirit of fundamentalists in Bangladesh.

A very sad scene was created about two weeks back in the adjacent State of Tripura where a BJP mob was seen trampling the national flag of Bangladesh. Tripura has a BJP led government. This reminds us of a Pakistani mob which couple of years back burnt the Bangladeshi flag and a poster sized picture of Sheikh Hasina. India is not Pakistan and should not try to be one and people in Bangladesh expect whatever happens in both the countries should be for the greater interest of the people of both Bangladesh and India. Strengthening the friendship between Bangladesh and India helps the later more than it does the other way round. The Indian Line of Credit sanctioned to Bangladesh at different times is more for the development of infrastructure and connectivity that will be extremely beneficial to India to transport its goods and commodities through Bangladesh. India has to look inward towards its security and economic interest. Just imagine millions of dollars spent by Bangladeshis who travels to India for healthcare service, education, and vacation or even shopping in India every year. However, for some strange reasons, India has revoked long term visa meant for senior citizens to visit India. This perhaps needs rethinking for practical reasons. Let the friendship between the two countries scale newer heights in days to come. Long live Bangladesh-India friendship.

The writer is an analyst and a commentator