Will this step of India bridge the distance from Bangladesh?
Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh V. Shringla met Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina during a day-long visit to Bangladesh.
The two countries were negotiated on the Corona epidemic, including war, vaccine and efforts to bring the economy back on track after Corona.
It is believed that the purpose of this tour was to improve relations between the two countries. This was Shringla’s first overseas tour after the Corona crisis and lockdown.
The reason for this tour is also being considered to be the increasing proximity of Bangladesh with China.
Actually, according to Bangladeshi media reports, China is going to help Bangladesh with one billion dollars on the project involving Teesta River.
After these reports, this visit by the Foreign Secretary of India becomes even more important because for a long time there were talks between India and Bangladesh about the sharing of water of Teesta River.
Last year, there was a strong reaction from Bangladesh on the issue of citizenship amendment law of the Government of India. In December, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abdul Momin and Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan canceled their India tour.
After this, there were talks of tension in the relations between India and Bangladesh. In such a situation, this tour is being seen as an important step towards improving the relationship between the two countries.
What is Teesta water sharing issue?
The Teesta River is one of 54 rivers going from India to Bangladesh. The Teesta originates from Sikkim and passes through West Bengal to Assam and merges with the Brahmaputra River and thus reaches Bangladesh.
Bangladesh wants the Teesta water to be distributed equally between the two countries. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s main objection to the agreement between Bangladesh and India regarding the water of Teesta River.
They say that if Teesta water is shared with Bangladesh, then drought situation will arise in West Bengal. Mamta says that many hydropower projects are going on in Sikkim with the help of river Teesta.
Only after the water required for these projects, its water comes to West Bengal. The stream of Teesta is also very weak. West Bengal argues that there is not much water left to divide it with Bangladesh.
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangladesh in 2015, there was a strong possibility that the two countries would get an agreement on the river, but with the passage of time there was no speed in this direction.
Bangladesh’s increasing distance from India
In recent times, China has got Bangladesh’s billions of dollars worth of projects and China has also increased the common trade of both countries by freeing the goods of Bangladesh from various taxes. Bangladesh is also a part of China’s belt and road program like Pakistan.
There is also a feeling in Bangladesh that in the way it helped the neighboring countries (India) to give shelter to many militant groups of Northeast India and hand them over to India, India would instead use the waters of Teesta and other shared rivers. We have not been able to compromise on the partition.
Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had last year called India’s New Citizenship Amendment Act as unwarranted.
Subir Bhowmick, who understands Bangladesh politics closely, says that apart from Muslims in India, speaking of CAA and some leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party giving citizenship to other communities of neighboring countries, in which they are synonymous with illegal people living in India and Bangladeshis Has made, there is a lot of heartburn in Bangladesh.
