Dhaka-Delhi friendship and our progress report

Bangladesh observed 50 years of diplomatic relations with India on Tuesday, as Delhi had recognised this nation on December 6, 1971. Besides, Belgium, Canada, Egypt, Indonesia, Russia, Qatar, Singapore, the UK, Australia, France, Japan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, and the US also observed the “Friendship Day.”

This is a historic day for Bangladesh not only for getting recognised by India, but also for the latter’s direct military involvement and diplomatic engagement with foreign countries towards the cause of our independence.

While our 50-year long friendship is mired with a raft of unfriendly attitudes and actions from New Delhi, minimising differences and further bolstering cooperation between the two neighbouring countries in diverse areas are of paramount importance for both sides.

On this occasion, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday stressed the need for recommitting to further strengthen the 50-year diplomatic relations between Bangladesh and India by concentrating on people-to-people contact, trade, business, and connectivity.

“We continue to believe in the importance of our relationship. At the same time, this (50th) anniversary is an opportunity to reflect on the foundation of our bilateral relations and the path ahead. It is also an occasion to recommit ourselves to work towards further strengthening the long-standing dynamic partnership between Bangladesh and India,” Sheikh Hasina said.

The aspirations of Sheikh Hasina towards a solid bonding between the countries are the expectations of the people of Bangladesh too. However, she avoided a few thorny issues infesting the bilateral ties, and developing mistrust over the decades towards New Delhi.

Ensuring water sharing from common rivers, stopping border killings, eliminating the non-tariff and para-tariff barriers to trade involving Bangladesh, and endorsing Dhaka’s stance on Rohingya repatriation are some of the areas where New Delhi must refocus for the sake of friendship.

Sheikh Hasina expressed confidence that together the two countries and two peoples would continue to turn their vision and ideas into realities, for decades to come.

“Our partnership is not confined to the treaties, MoUs, bilateral agreements that provide the formal structures for our working relations. Today, our broad partnership has matured, taking dynamic, comprehensive and strategic shape, and is based on sovereignty, equality, trust, and mutual respect,” she added.

The relationship between Bangladesh and India is anchored in history, culture, language and shared values of secularism, democracy, and countless other commonalities, she pointed out.

In a span of 50 years, Bangladesh has achieved tremendous successes in poverty reduction, school enrollment, per capita income, economic growth, remittance earnings, and women empowerment.

Data suggest India lags behind Bangladesh on many social and economic indicators. We are no longer a basket case, but with a fuller basket capable of even lending forex to our neighboring South Asian countries. Bangladesh will keep its pace of advancement, and no neighbouring country can now dwarf our nation.

We are grateful to India for their whole-hearted support towards our independence, even though India took revenge against its arch-rival Pakistan through the emergence of a new country Bangladesh.

The two countries should now focus on further bolstering their friendship based on mutual trust and status. The long thorny issues denting the friendship must go now. If one thinks that friendship between the rich and poor is not sustainable, it is a strong message for such thinkers that both are now almost similar on both economic and social indicators.

Before planning on regional prosperity, Bangladesh and India should further bolster their political and economic ties. Successive governments in Bangladesh have been pursuing India to minimise bitter issues denting the relationship, while the stances of India’s successive governments remained the same. If friendship requires similar status between the two parties, India should look into our progress report.