Bangladesh PM Tarique Rahman likely to visit India next week, why is it significant for Delhi-Dhaka ties?

Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman is likely to visit India between August 20 and 25, with actual dates for his India tour being discussed between Dhaka and New Delhi, reported The Daily Star quoting sources. The development follows after Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Dinesh Trivedi met PM Narendra Modi on August 11. “Both sides have been interested in a bilateral visit, but the schedule was an issue. After weighing various schedules, the top officials of both countries have come close to a schedule between August 20 and 25,” The Daily Star reported quoting a top diplomatic source in New Delhi.

The proposed visit is quite significant amid diplomatic tensions between Bangladesh and India on deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Hasina earlier vowed to return to Bangladesh, and said she may be detained or jailed but "fear can't decide her duty". “My return not about power, it's about putting Bangladesh back on track of development, secularism. I know, they may put me in jail or kill me,” she said on her return to Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, Dhaka strongly objected Hasina’s interaction on her government’s second anniversary of ouster. However, New Delhi distanced itself from the event saying it was organised by a “private media entity”.

Dinesh Trivedi, Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh through his, stressed the importance of people-to-people ties between Bangladesh and India. “We recognise that it is the people-to-people connection, rooted in shared aspiration and mutual goodwill, that remains the true beating heart of this enduring friendship,” he said.  According to Trivedi, the two countries were advancing their ties in key sectors including  trade, connectivity, security and healthcare, other sectors.

Sheikh Hasina from a media event held at New Delhi said that for the last two years, she watched her beloved Bangladesh suffer and this is not the Bangladesh she had built, this is not the Bangladesh for which 3 million people sacrificed their lives in 1971.

“Let me begin with the truth about July and August 2024. It was not a peaceful student movement. From the beginning, my government tried to resolve the issue peacefully through dialogue, legal process, and patience. But behind the language of reform, organised groups were working to turn students demand into violent political instrument,” she said.

While speaking on two years of 2024 violent protest in the country, Sheikh Hasina said, "Muhammad Yunus himself said this was a meticulously designed movement, led by a mastermind. His own words expose the truth. It was not simply a spontaneous student protest. There was no visible or responsible leadership, instructions were given invisibly; it was organised, directed and used to create a path to power outside ballot box..."

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