What is the future of India-Bangladesh projects, agreements or understandings?
In the last decade and a half, the name of the country that has come to the fore in the politics of Bangladesh is the neighboring country India.
Former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina spent six years in India from 1975. He still fled the country and went to India.
But what is the reality of the agreements or projects India has with Bangladesh? What is the future of them?
After the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took refuge in Delhi, a place of discomfort has been created in India regarding the bilateral relations of the two countries.
Giving shelter to an unpopular leader who has been an ally for a long time, but now in exile, relations with Bangladesh in a changing political situation – these are issues for India to think about now.
But, India has many types of projects, agreements and understandings with Bangladesh.
And as easy as it was for India to work with the Awami League government in the last 16 years, analysts have expressed doubts about how much it will be now.
How much detailed information is known about the agreements: Hardly any clear information is known about the number and type or conditions of the agreements signed between the two countries during the rule of the Awami League government.
There are reports about this in the media, but no detailed information is available on the official website or the ministry.
According to the data of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, Bangladesh has signed at least 20 agreements and 66 memorandums of understanding with India from 2010 to 2024.
Besides, the scope of various collaborations and earlier agreements was also extended during this period.
However, detailed information about the terms of these agreements is not available in the public domain.
Besides, it is not clear whether the MoU was later converted into a contract or not.
For example, although there was a memorandum of understanding in 2015 on the use of Chittagong and Mongla ports, there is no official document or information about the final agreement in 2018.
Recently, the news that India has got the responsibility of managing the terminal of Mongla port in Bangladesh has come from Chinese and Indian media.
The authorities in Bangladesh have not given details.
Various political parties of Bangladesh have criticized the government and the Awami League at various times.
BNP National Standing Committee member Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury told the BBC that he thinks the agreements between the two countries need to be reviewed. Some of the deals that have gone public have been questioned as much as they come. And we don’t know what has not come. Now I am sure these agreements will be faced by the people.
He said, I will not only talk about India. Various agreements have been made with many countries. They need to be reviewed. Because at the end of the day, the people of Bangladesh have to pay this money. And we have to address them. If these are not addressed, there will be more such agreements in the future.
Finally, India’s approval of a rail corridor through Bangladesh in June has also been widely criticized.
Many see aspects like giving extra benefits to Adani Group in importing electricity from India, high cost, capacity charge as against the interest of the country.
Besides, there was criticism about Rampal power plant.
The young generation also thinks that it is time to think about these issues anew. Umama Fatema, a co-ordinator of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, thinks so.
He said, excluding the 2008 election, the remaining three elections have pleased the Indian government in many ways and it is seen that there was a desire in the Awami League to prolong its power. From that place only such agreements were made where Bangladesh did not benefit in any way. And the entire share of the profit actually went into India’s pocket. The time has come for the government of Bangladesh to rethink about those agreements.
Every agreement and agreement will be ‘revisited’: In response to the question whether the details of the agreement between Bangladesh and India will be disclosed or not, Md. Tauhid Hossain said, some time is needed for detailed work on this matter. Now there is actually a situation going on to make the government fully functional as much as possible. In the next phase very soon we will sit down with all – how to make a contract.We believe in transparency, we must make public everything possible or agreements that people have a right to know.
However, a major criticism of the India-Bangladesh projects or agreements is the failure to ensure Bangladesh’s areas of interest.
For example, issues like Teesta or Farakka, border killing or direct traffic with Nepal-Bhutan, many people think that the interests of Bangladesh have not been protected.
But the agreements that have been made in the meantime, is there a chance to withdraw? Could those agreements be reconsidered?
In response to a question from BBC Bengal, the foreign adviser said that every agreement and agreement will be “revisited”.
“We will revisit everything, and see where we can renegotiate,” he said. Or where we feel that our interests are not protected, we can proceed with that. But the point is that we each have to examine where we can renegotiate and where we can’t, and we’ll proceed accordingly.
What is the chance to get out of the agreement: Professor Lailufar Yasmin in the Department of International Relations of Dhaka University says that the chance of getting out of the agreements that have room for criticism depends on what is in the specific agreement.
A memorandum of understanding generally does not have the legal binding force that a contract does.
He was saying that whenever a treaty is executed, it is written that in a particular situation the treaty will not apply to anyone. Also as the exit clause states that if there is any kind of extraordinary situation then it will not be applicable to anyone.
Professor Lailufar Yasmin said, every contract has different types of exit clauses. So what are the exit clauses of the agreements made with India – they should be looked at very carefully. If the exit clause is not favorable, then the contracts should continue.
Meanwhile, India’s analysts think that in many cases, India has relied too much on Awami League. That’s why the environment is not as easy for them as before.
As neighboring countries, the two countries will have diplomatic relations.
But exactly what that will look like in the days ahead and what kind of changes may come now will take some time to be clear, analysts said.
