India-B'desh ties may warm up after BNP win, but stronger Jamaat a concern

PM Modi reaches out to BNP chief Tarique Rahman to reset India-Bangladesh ties, though Jamaat's rising influence clouds prospects for smoother relations

With the Indian government hopeful of overcoming the turbulence in New Delhi-Dhaka relations since August 2024, and improve its relations with its crucial eastern neighbour under a Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday morning was the first world leader to personally phone BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman, who is set to be his country’s next prime minister.

 

But former and current diplomats in Dhaka and New Delhi pointed out that a stronger presence of the Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh’s new National Assembly would be a concern for India-Bangladesh ties even as the two neighbours would try to increase trade and connectivity. 

 

The PM “conveyed his best wishes and support to Rahman in his endeavour to fulfil the aspirations of the people of Bangladesh,” the Indian government said. “As two close neighbours with deep-rooted historical and cultural ties, I reaffirmed India’s continued commitment to the peace, progress, and prosperity of both our peoples,” the PM said. 

In an earlier social media post, Modi said India will continue to stand in support of a democratic, progressive and inclusive Bangladesh. “I look forward to working with you to strengthen our multifaceted relations and advance our common development goals,” he said. The BNP thanked Modi for recognising the verdict of the elections and hoped that the relations between the two countries would be strengthened under the new government.

 

The BNP is on course to win more than two-thirds majority. But sources in Dhaka and in the Indian government in New Delhi told Business Standard that the increased strength of the Jamaat-e-Islami in the new Bangladesh parliament would keep the BNP government on its toes, especially on the question of New Delhi-Dhaka relations.

 

The Jamaat is a hardline party known to be close to Islamabad, and for its anti-India posturing, and is likely to win around 75 seats in the new Bangladeshi parliament. The Jamaat has also been a former ally of the BNP when the latter was in power between 2001 and 2006 with two of Jamaat’s leaders serving as ministers in that government.

 

In an indication that the BNP would be unwilling to concede any space to the Jamaat on Dhaka’s relations with New Delhi, the Tarique Rahman-led party on Friday reiterated its firm stance on seeking the extradition of ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from India to face trial.

 

“The foreign minister has already persuaded the case for her extradition, and we also support it,” senior BNP leader Salahuddin Ahmed said. “We always press for her extradition according to the law. This is between the foreign ministries of the two countries. We also asked the government of India to please send her back to face trial in Bangladesh,” he added with a caveat that the BNP seeks normal relations with all neighbours, including India, but only on equal terms.

 

India-Bangladesh relations were strained under the interim government headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus with New Delhi expressing its concern on several occasions about the increased attacks on Bangladesh’s religious minorities, including Hindus, Buddhists and Christians. There is, however, hope both in Dhaka and New Delhi, as also in Kolkata, that the BNP government, as it promised in its manifesto, would deal severely against perpetrators of attacks on minorities.

 

India’s former High Commissioner to Dhaka, who is currently a nominated Rajya Sabha member, Harsh Vardhan Shringla said, “I think in many senses, we have come full circle and the people of Bangladesh have voted for a party that represents political interest. It is a pro-Liberation party and it believes in the spirit of 1971, as opposed to the Jamaat-e-Islami, which was opposed to the Liberation struggle of Bangladesh in 1971.”

 

Shringla said the BNP chief has made “some positive statements about his intentions to maintain good relations with India, to ensure that minorities are protected in his country”. But indicating at the increased strength of the Jamaat in Bangladesh politics, he said that it does not mean that the “spectre of a move towards a communal, radical ... and Islamisation of the country is over”.

 

New Delhi is also concerned at the increasingly friendly relations between Dhaka and Beijing during the tenure of the interim government. China on Friday said it is ready to work with Dhaka to take the Strategic Cooperative Partnership forward, and expressed its readiness to work with Dhaka to deepen high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.

 

(With PTI inputs)