The prompt telephone call by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Sheikh Hasina to congratulate her on winning a landslide victory in the 30 December 2018 election has come as a surprise to some political pundits. They believe it was to ensure a friendly Eastern Front which has been delivered by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina after she came to power in 2009.
Some critics have attempted to play down the India-Bangladesh relations in terms of the election or the benefits that the two nations are enjoying due to the cementing of the ties further over the past 10 years.
One wonders why such attempts are made instead of supporting, if not helping, the unique success in bilateral ties in South Asia.As neighbours, it is natural to have some yet to be unresolved issues, but the Dhaka-New Delhi does not have serious issues as India has with Pakistan or Nepal or even the Maldives.
Let us look back a little at the 2001-2006 period. The jailed chief of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Khaleda Zia was in power with her ally the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami party.
The Jamaat is known as Pakistan's foot print in Bangladesh and has been behind the rise of radicalism with the BNP's eyes shut. South Asia saw the birth of Bangla Bhai, the terror man of the now banned Jamaatul Mujahedin Bangladesh (JMB) with alleged strong connections with Pakistan's intelligence outfit ISI.
India's border with Bangladesh became a haven of separatists mainly the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA). The BNP allowed transhipment of modern weapons for ULFA with one major seizure of 10 trucks on way to the separatists. None can say how many such shipments went undetected.
Rising economic power has entered South Asia with strong financial support to Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. BNP's strong ties with China have been historical with some cracks over Taiwan, but still cannot guarantee if it is 100 percent with Sheikh Hasina's Awami League.
Sheikh Hasina kept a close watch and ensured her trusted friend India, that it could bin its worries vis a vis China. She told Indian journalists last year that "We want investment and cooperation from whoever offers it. We want development of the country... We have to think about our people as they are the beneficiaries of the development."
"India has nothing to be worried about it," Sheikh Hasina said, adding that "I will [rather] suggest India should have good relations with its neighbours, including Bangladesh, so this region could be developed further and we can show the world that we all work together."
Over the past 10 years under Sheikh Hasina all those irritants between Dhaka and New Delhi have been solved and Dhaka has committed to take the ties to the "next level." What could be that after the prime minister herself saying "I have given so much to India that none else would have given and this will be beneficial for both the countries"?
Indian diplomats and think-tank leaders indicated during my recent visit that they kept relations with all political parties of a country as a matter of policy, but they saw no alternative to Sheikh Hasina in not only as their trusted friend, but also as a charismatic and strong leader to lead an anti-India Bangladesh. They wanted the 1972 Constitution upheld by all and no stop in the massive development spree that Bangladesh is now experiencing.
Khaleda Zia had campaigned in 2001 that if Sheikh Hasina was voted to power then part of Bangladesh would become India and mosques would be turned into Hindu temples!
On part of Bangladesh, it has to appreciate the Indian support, especially after an election that the opposition wanted to ruin. When the media announced that, India Prime Minister Narendra Modi became the first leader to congratulate Sheikh Hasina by telephoning her such ideas of the opposition dampened or simply blew up in the air. Sheikh Hasina has shown her "zero-tolerance" regarding all kinds of terrorism and militancy, which was created and harboured by the BNP.
Then came the Chinese recognition of her landslide victory. Thus it was only more important for India to take the leverage and keep the age-old trusted friendship with Bangladesh under Sheikh Hasina/.The railways and highways along with allowing imports of electricity has been some visible benefits the two countries have been benefitted mutually.
If democracy to me is which gives and keeps a leader who delivers, Sheikh Hasina has that in Bangladesh and the continuity that New Delhi wanted has happened to our mutual benefit. Modi took no time because opposition claims would fall flat if the votes are recounted. He is a farsighted statesman like his Bangladesh counterpart.
The strong relations between Bangladesh and India should be cemented further for not only the benefit of the two neighbours, but also the South and South Eastern region.
The writer is a senior journalist and is a Dag Hammarskjold Fellow
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