Bangladesh feels badly let down by India. After coming to power in December 2008, Bangladesh Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina did everything and more to address India's concerns.

By SNM Abdi

Narendra Modi and Sheikh Hasina have met at long last. Unfortunately, the first meeting between the Indian and Bangladeshi premiers took place in New York instead of South Asia. Predictably, officials on both nations told the media that pleasantries were exchanged and key issues of mutual interest discussed – and the leaders look forward to meeting again at the first opportunity.

Now that the ice has been broken, I have a suggestion: Modi must make it a point to be in Dhaka on 16 December to remind Bangladeshis about what India has done for them. His visit on that particular date will help cement bilateral ties that have developed cracks. And the cracks are showing.

I am proposing 16 December, which is celebrated in Bangladesh as Bijoy Dibas, or Victory Day, to commemorate the triumph of Indian and Bangladeshi allied forces over the Pakistani Army in the 1971 Liberation War, culminating in the birth of Bangladesh. Modi’s presence in Dhaka on that red-letter day is bound to have an electrifying effect. He should exploit the golden opportunity to highlight New Delhi’s role in the creation of Bangladesh. A well-timed Modi visit will help bring India and Bangladesh, who are drifting apart, closer for mutual gain.

Bangladesh feels badly let down by India. After coming to power in December 2008, Bangladesh Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina did everything and more to address India's concerns. She clamped down on separatist rebels from India's restive North-East who were provided safe haven by the previous Bangladesh Nationalist Party government. Outfits like United Liberation Front of Assam were flushed out. Unofficially, Dhaka even granted transit facilities over land and water to reduce India’s costs for sending goods to our remote north-eastern region.

However, former premier Singh and Modi have left Dhaka fuming and fretting. Singh promised to sign the Teesta River water-sharing agreement during a state visit to Bangladesh in 2011. He also promised to ink a land boundary pact to remove anomalies in the border between the two nations. However, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's opposition scuttled the deal to share the Teesta waters in a 50:50 ratio, while the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) opposition sabotaged the land agreement.

Water is a very emotive issue in agrarian Bangladesh. Since 2011, Hasina is battling criticism for pandering to Indian desires without getting anything in return. She is still in a rather awkward position vis-a-vis India. Modi's blatantly communal, anti-Bangladeshi remarks to consolidate the Hindu vote in the run-up to the parliamentary elections added to the discomfort of pro-India Hasina. In Assam, Modi declared that rhinos were being killed in the state’s sanctuaries to create living space for illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. In West Bengal, he announced that Bangladeshis who worshipped goddess Durga were welcome but others would be rounded up and deported no sooner he came to power. As the previous BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government had tried to bully Bangladesh, many in that country watched Modi’s rise with great concern.

Significantly, Hasina did not attend Modi’s swearing-in ceremony. She was the only leader from South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) countries who did not turn up. Although on a pre-scheduled state visit to Japan, a major donor, was cited as the reason, her absence was also attributed to her waning faith in India. Even before the regime change in India, her cronies repeatedly said it was not feasible for Hasina to visit India until the pending Teesta and boundary agreements — labelled as proof of India's intransigence by Bangladeshi opposition — were signed.

Modi visited Bhutan and Nepal in quick succession after coming to power; he had not attacked either country while canvassing for votes! But he has steered clear of Bangladesh. Maybe he has a guilty conscience. But it is high time he gathers his wits and goes to Dhaka. Bangladeshis who matter know that electioneering is one thing, governance another. So Modi need not worry too much.

Modi should visit Bangladesh on 16 December and exploit the occasion to the hilt. But simply being there will not be enough. He must sign the long overdue Teesta and land boundary agreements. Modi must bluntly tell Mamata where to get off: foreign policy is the federal government’s prerogative, which state governments cannot impinge upon. Modi must assert himself – something Singh should have done to put Mamata in her place. And he must also issue a whip to BJP MPs not to oppose the bill in parliament for clearing legal hurdles in the path of the boundary agreement.

The Indian security establishment’s first priority is to ensure that Hasina, who is so well disposed towards India, completes her new term as PM, which began this year. A Modi visit on 16 December will help India achieve that strategic goal – which happens to be one of the prime objectives of our current foreign policy.

Modi should also nip in the bud efforts by a section of the BJP to build party-to-party relations with Bangladesh Nationalist Party to counter the Congress party’s well-known close links with Hasina's Awami League. BNP too is trying to woo the BJP. But our national interests are best served by the Awami League – a tried and tested friend of India which may be sulking just like the Bangladesh government because we have failed to honour our commitments. A Modi visit, accompanied by signing of long over-due agreements, will bring a smile on the face of an old ally.

(SNM Abdi is a ex-Deputy Editor of Outlook and former Executive Editor of Daily Sun, Dhaka.)