India is all set to form a new government with Bharatiya Janata Party leader Narendra Modi as the prime minister for the third consecutive term. This, without a shadow of a doubt, assumes huge significance for Bangladesh to take its already strong and friendly relations with its closest neighbor, India, to a new height.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina along with other global leaders is in New Delhi to attend the swearing-in ceremony of her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi which is taking place today (Sunday).
Because of deep understanding of working together for a decade, there have been some significant achievements made between the two countries under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina and Narendra Modi in the fields of connectivity, energy, trade, defense and cultural exchanges.
One of the key achievements was the Land Boundary Agreement in 2015, which resolved a long-standing border dispute between the two countries and this historic LBA took place soon after Modi became prime minister for the first time in 2014.
Since then, bilateral collaboration has continued. In the energy sector, the two countries have cooperated in several energy projects such as construction of power plants and installation of cross-border electricity transmission lines. These energy projects have helped Bangladesh meet its energy needs to a large extent.
Connectivity is another area of mutual cooperation in which conspicuous progress has been made during the past years. Introduction of new bus and train services has facilitated easier movement of people and goods across the border.
But there are some sore outstanding issues between the two countries which need to be resolved. The first and foremost one is Teesta water sharing and renewal of the Ganga water sharing treaty which expires by 2026.
Teesta water sharing has remained unresolved for many years. Bangladesh once had closed in on a deal on the Teesta water sharing in 2011 during the visit by the then Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh to Bangladesh. But it did not see the light in the last moment following a disagreement by the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Indiscriminate border killing of Bangladeshi people by the members of the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) is another protracted contentious issue that has stymied our relationships.
This topic was prominently focused during the recent visit of the Bangladeshs Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud to New Delhi and there was a promise made from the Indian side that non-lethal weapons would be used by the BSF to reduce the number of border killings. But repeated promises from the Indian government to stop border deaths have been of little avail until now.
We are left hoping that the new Indian government under the leadership of Narendra Modi would focus on these pending issues like border killings and water sharing in order to strengthen bilateral relationships with Bangladesh in the years to come.
