On firmer ground with Dhaka
Frequent high-level visits will strengthen bilateral ties
There has been a steady tempo of high-level visits between India and Bangladesh in the past few months of which external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj’s recent visit is the latest. Her Bangladeshi counterpart was not long ago in India and finance minister Arun Jaitley dropped by
Dhaka earlier. And this does not even count the bilateral and multilateral meetings the two countries have held with each other in third countries, including on the sidelines of the UNGA session in September. The Centre is known to have decided to make official interactions between New Delhi and Dhaka a part of its bilateral firmament — and hopes to replicate this with other neighbours over time.
There are a number of positives in such frequent-flying diplomacy. Ms Swaraj has spoken of India’s determination to “resolve all outstanding issues” with Bangladesh. As many of these issues are highly sensitive to domestic interest groups regular contact helps both sides get a sense of the lay of the political land in real time. If the two are to become as close as the Modi government wants them to be, meetings between ministers and other high-level officials from both sides should come to be seen as normal rather than an aberration. India is also heading to issue 1.4 million visas to Bangladeshis this year making the delta state the single-largest source of travellers to India. With people-to-people relations doing so well, it makes sense that every level of officialdom should be equally familiar.
Regular visits help boost the profile of the Sheikh Hasina government and other groups who believe India is Bangladesh’s primary strategic and economic partner. As the fallout of the Rohingya refugee crisis showed, Delhi-Dhaka ties are vulnerable to sudden political storms. The kind of connectivity projects and intertwining that are being carried out will take decades to complete. The unconscious acceptance of this special relationship among the larger public requires an even longer-term vision. Both of them will require much political hand-holding which regular interactions can only be beneficial.