New Delhi: The bilateral ties between India and Bangladesh have grown over the years with both the countries working hand in hand to improve the relationship.
In fact, the recent visit of Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla was part of ongoing bilateral engagement between the two close and friendly neighbours, and both the nations discussed projects in the area of connectivity and power to boost economic and trade ties.
Despite the strong ties between the two countries, often the debate seems to be more about the challenges like the Teesta river dispute, and the implications of an assertive China or China's influence in the region that tends to cast a spell on the many positive developments in their bilateral engagement.
Speaking to ETV Bharat, Joyeeta Bhattacharjee, an expert on Bangladesh at Observer Researcher Foundation, a think tank in Delhi said, "The solution of Teesta strongly lies in the overall understanding how both the countries can manage waters and look for alternative livelihood for the people in the catchment areas because over-dependency on the river water for agriculture is creating a lot of difficulties. This is the classic case to understand and look into how India and Bangladesh can think of jointly managing the river."
Reports suggest that Bangladesh had asked China for close to a billion dollars to manage the Teesta River which has long remained a friction point between the two countries. However, both the countries have come a long way and talks have continued ever since.
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More particularly, when India's relationship with China turned sour given the border conflict between the two nations, there has been a growing concern that India's long-standing relationship with its neighbour country Bangladesh might fall out as there is no denying the fact that China's economic influence in Bangladesh is evident and Dhaka is tilting towards Beijing for trade and economic dependency.
Now the question is whether India should worry about China's influence in Bangladesh and keep mocking China's relations with other countries, or perhaps make a smart move in keeping intact the long friendship with Bangladesh.
Analysts are of the view that China does exert influence on Bangladesh but that doesn't mean India will be crippled. Instead of focusing more on Chinese bogey, it is important for India to concentrate more on its strength.
Smruti S Pattanaik, a research fellow at the MP-IDSA added, "India cannot match China, therefore there is no point of speaking about Chinese bogey and not focusing on the strength of India. India should not be bothered with Chinese influence in Bangladesh, rather there is a need to focus on the projects that would affect India's security directly and concentrate and see that those projects do not go to China. For instance, India should be concerned about the Sonadia port."
"Over the years, there has been an increase of China's influence in India's neighbourhood, in that way, I really don't think that we need to see Bangladesh from a different perspective altogether. Bangladesh is a very different case, although there is a growing Chinese influence in Bangladesh we also have to see how the Bangladesh government is tackling it," Bhattacharjee further adds.
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India and Bangladesh share the fifth-longest land boundary in the world. It has long been important for India to maintain a positive working relationship with Bangladesh to bolster security and border management.
It has also been pertinent for China as well to maintain a welcoming relationship with Bangladesh – both to ensure trade benefits by using Bangladesh's ports and to keep a check on India as well.
"It is a reality that Bangladesh needs development but to understand India-Bangladesh-China relationship, we have to go by Sheikh Hasina's statement that she cited in the year 2019. Hasina specifically mentioned that Bangladesh's relationship with India is organic and cannot be counted by little money, whereas with China it is an economic relationship. It came as a strong statement where she clearly differentiates how Bangladesh sees the relationships with its neighbouring countries," Bhattacharjee pointed out.
Overall there will be challenges but, Bhattacharjee said, Hasina has been able to tactfully define Bangladesh's relationship with the regional rivals who have continuously offered financial assistance to the state to pursue their own geopolitical interests.
It is worth noting that just as China launched the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, India, in 2014, formulated a new 'neighbourhood first' policy to boost regional ties. In 2016, the Chinese President Xi Jinping offered Bangladesh a $24 billion economic package - which became Dhaka's biggest foreign credit line - for a number of projects across multiple sectors. In 2017, India offered a $5 billion loan, the largest ever line of credit India offered any country at a single go.
"Bangladesh is not tilting towards China and the friendship is not new, China has been in Bangladesh and have long held strong ties. Not only Bangladesh, but China is also playing this game with all other global powers, so why India should be bothered about it? India's relationship with Bangladesh is very different and both the nations have shown this. Efforts are being made to address the bilateral issues and smoothen the path to stronger cooperation," she underlined.
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According to reports, India has provided generous development assistance to Bangladesh. India's concessional line of credit of nearly USD 10 billion is the largest it has offered to any country. Besides, grant-in-aid forms an important part of India's developmental assistance in Bangladesh.
Amid the geopolitics, the pandemic brings a major humanitarian crisis and India has always given importance to it. India has also always responded first in Bangladesh's times of crises be it during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. As Covid-19 spread to Bangladesh, India provided medical assistance in the form of test kits, PPE and medicines, as well as online training for medical professionals, Joyeeta underlined.
Emphasising on India's advancement in medical research, Bhattacharjee said, "It will help in expanding the 'neighbourhood first' policy which talks about 'shared growth, shared prosperity and sharing our challenges together and finding solutions to it'. I have great faith in our diplomacy," she added.
"The very beginning of the India-Bangladesh relationship started with the humanitarian touch to the whole issue. In the year 1971, humanity came in a big way to Indo-Bangladesh relationship and this should be the approach," she pointed out.
Even as India and Bangladesh is surging ahead to strengthen its ties but there are numerous challenges that are likely to bring major disruptions and third parties have and will continue to interfere but it is the need of the hour that both Indo-Bangladesh together play a vital role in transforming the lives of their people.
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