Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's September 5-8 India visit is expected to focus on issues that can help her counter negative factors ahead of the election scheduled next year, The Hindu has learnt from sources working on the agenda of the visit. Apart from engaging Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a political dialogue, the visiting leader is likely to focus on water sharing, energy cooperation, uninterrupted commercial flow and greater connectivity.
"We are sensing that there will be an energy supply element in bilateral agreements between the two sides," said a diplomatic source without getting into the specifics. One of the hallmarks of Ms. Hasina's 13-year old government has been the stability of energy and power generation in Bangladesh which has drastically reduced load shedding in major cities and industrial areas and ports. However, since last month Bangladesh has seen more than 50% hike in energy which has contributed to increased price of essential supplies, creating a challenging situation for her government. A source also hinted that even in the absence of an energy agreement, there is likely to be a "favourable response" from India if Bangladesh was to seek suggestions from the Indian side about how to address the current energy crisis, which partly being blamed on the global disruption caused by the Ukraine crisis.
Help during COVID
Ahead of her visit, Ms. Hasina reached out to the political leadership praising the assistance that Bangladesh received from India during the COVID-19 pandemic. In an interview to news agency ANI, she highlighted her personal memory of living in exile in Delhi in the aftermath of the assassination of her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of her family in 1975 but also framed bilateral relation in a forward-looking manner within the "business" and infrastructure projects that are currently taking place in Bangladesh.
Ms. Hasina's government has been consistent in expressing concern about disruption in the supplies of certain essential commodities for which Bangladesh depends on India. During her October 2019 visit, she had highlighted the onion crisis which had triggered a domestic outcry as supplies from the Indian side had been disrupted. It is understood that Dhaka might seek stability of commercial supplies from the Indian side.
Regional friendship
Ms. Hasina's stay is expected to include a visit to the famed Sufi shrine at Nizamuddin here as well as a trip to Ajmer Sharif in Rajasthan. The discussion between the two sides will provide India a window to assess the political might and legacy of Sheikh Hasina who first became Prime Minister in 1996 and dealt with Prime Ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Inder Kumar Gujral and H.D. Devegowda. Her next stint at power began in 2009 and has continued uninterrupted till now. The dominance of the Awami League in Bangladesh and allegations of human rights violation against her government have drawn negative attention from the western powers. However, the visit to India will provide Ms. Hasina an opportunity to showcase her regional friendship ahead of her expected trips to the western destinations later this year when she will campaign for repatriation of the Rohingya refugees to Myanmar.
Informed officials also expressed deep concern about the rise of fanatical forces within the Awami League. During the last Durga puja season, Bangladesh witnessed a spike in attacks against minority Hindu community and similar attacks were reported earlier this year as well. In the latest interview, Ms. Hasina, however, argued that she and her party workers have responded to communal incidents “immediately” and said, “Look, extremism is everywhere, even in India or other countries if you see in the world. Because of social media, it has become very bad nowadays.“
Ahead of the visit, India and Bangladesh held the Joint River Commission’s meeting on August 25 when both sides discussed the issues concerning river water sharing and firmed up the draft of an agreement on the Kushiyara river near Assam. A diplomatic source said that Ms. Hasina was determined to keep pushing for the conclusion of the Teesta waters agreement and would remind her Indian hosts to seal the agreement.
