New Delhi: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is going to undertake yet another visit to India just months before the tightly fought elections in that country. She will be attending the G20 Summit in September as an ‘Invited Country’, ABP Live has learnt.
Bangladesh is currently facing a tough election season as the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by former prime minister Khaleda Zia, has demanded that a caretaker government be installed and the Parliament dissolved before the polls that are likely to be conducted in December 2023 or early January 2024. The BNP had been organising aggressive political rallies there since last year in an effort to come back to mainstream politics.
According to sources in the Bangladesh government, India’s gesture towards Dhaka by granting it the status of an ‘Invitee Country’ for the upcoming G20 Summit will give a much-needed boost to PM Hasina as she approaches the elections. The Bangladeshi PM is the longest serving woman head of the government in their history.
India’s special invitee guest countries for the G20 Summit are Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain and UAE.
Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra visited Bangladesh earlier this month when he also called on PM Hasina and extended an invitation to her to visit India. Her visit to India in September is expected to boost her and the party's image as a “global power”, thereby strengthening the position of Awami League before the elections. She will also be meeting PM Modi during the visit, sources told ABP Live.
On Sunday, the joint general secretary of the ruling Awami League party and Information and Broadcasting Minister Hasan Mahumd said in Dhaka that they wants all opposition parties, including the BNP, to actively fight the upcoming general elections.
The BNP, meanwhile, has been accused by the Awami League of initiating widespread violence with the help of radical groups like Jamaat-e-Islami militants on supporters of the ruling party, activists, women and children.
Why PM Hasina Needs India's Support
Hasina had last visited India in September 2022 in what was largely seen as her last visit here before the elections. She had during her visit sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s support in order to retain her position.
Under Hasina, Bangladesh has seen unprecedented growth despite Covid and a massive infrastructure development, with a special focus on connectivity projects with neighbouring India and Southeast Asian countries. In June 2022, Bangladesh inaugurated the Padma Multipurpose Bridge that Dhaka boasted of funding on its own without help from other countries. This is the longest bridge in that country.
However, the country had to still knock on the doors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that granted the Hasina government a $4.7 billion loan. Bangladesh needed the loan to boost its economic growth that got adversely impacted due to the Russia-Ukraine war leading to a sharp widening of current account deficit, depreciation of the Taka and a decline in foreign exchange reserves, the IMF said.
"Since independence, Bangladesh has made steady progress in reducing poverty and significant improvements in living standards. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent Russia’s war in Ukraine interrupted this long period of robust economic performance. Multiple shocks have made macroeconomic management challenging in Bangladesh,” Antoinette M. Sayeh, Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair, IMF’s Executive Board said in January while dispersing the loan.
Meanwhile, major foreign powers like the US and China, who are also involved in Bangladesh’s growth, have begun to play their role in the politics there. Dhaka remains crucial for both the US and China due to its strategic geographic location in the Bay of Bengal.
While India continues to be closely involved there due to Hasina’s bonhomie with Modi, China has also accelerated its efforts. Beijing’s new Foreign Minister Qin Gang visited Dhaka in January on his way to Africa immediately after assuming the role.
The US is also not leaving any stone unturned. Washington has highlighted the need for “free and fair” elections during the visit of the Counselor of the U.S. Department of State, Derek Chollet, who was accompanied by a delegation of senior officials from the Joe Biden administration.
Adani Power Deal, Agartala-Akhaura Rail Link ‘Concerns’ For Bangladesh
Meanwhile, India and Bangladesh have got entangled in an uncalled-for issue regarding a $4.5 billion power project deal signed between Adani Power Ltd. (Jharkhand) and the state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) in November 2017.
The deal also entailed the construction of a $1.7 billion power manufacturing unit in Jharkahnd’s Godda district for supplying power to Bangladesh.
However, sources told ABP Live, the project has not moved as was planned, even as the embattled billionaire Gautam Adani continues to witness a freefall of his wealth after the damaging report by short-seller Hindenburg Research.
Sources in Bangladesh said while the country wants Adani to continue with the project, it has sought the intervention of the Indian government in the matter. But there has been no response from the government so far, and that has become a “matter of concern” for the Hasina administration.
Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs, had said earlier this month that “if a certain project is not working for financial or economic reasons, I don't think that's a reflection on the relationship”.
Meanwhile, the much-touted multimodal road-rail link between Tripura capital Agartala and Akhaura in Bangladesh has also run into trouble, according to the sources quoted above. They said although around 80 per cent of the project is complete, it is facing “massive delays” owing to slowdown of work by the contractor.
Bangladesh Railway signed an agreement with India's Texmaco Rail and Engineering Limited in May 2018 for the construction of the rail link.
In December 2022, it was reported that Texmaco said it was facing delays in sourcing raw materials from India and bringing them to Bangladesh owing to Covid-induced lockdown measures.