Link to Article: https://apnews.com/article/bangladesh-india-hasina-yunus-minority-881cf57c2ab65fd1c64bc8aa0ae93783
As expressed by the headline, Bangladesh and India have begun holding talks in the name of diffusing tensions between the two states. Then, the article goes on to describe the conflicts between the two countries that have helped to exacerbate that tension. In August of last year, ex- Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India to escape punishment. A Hindu spiritual leader was arrested in Bangladesh and allegations of assault and mistreatment of Hindus in Bangladesh have come out. Within Bangladesh, anti-Indian sentiment has taken root in some groups, and in both states there have been instances where protesters desecrated the other country’s flag.
Generally speaking, relations between India and Bangladesh are not particularly poor — they are members in several IGOs together and have historical cultural ties that ease relations between them. Recently, however, there’s been increased animosity due to perceptions of India’s government taking Anti-Muslim, Anti-Bangladeshi actions and interfering too much in Bangladesh’s internal affairs — something actually mentioned by the Bangladeshi Foreign Secretary in the article. Part of this is in Bangladesh’s recent change in government; a student-led revolution ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Bangladesh is now run by an interim, unelected government. This is a time of transition for Bangladesh, which could easily see their relations with India shift greatly
As mentioned in my other blog posts (which are all related to India in some way, actually) India has something of an ambition for power in the region, which influences much of their decisions. Bangladesh, aside from being another trade partner of India, sits at an important location geographically for India, as it’s another gateway into other parts of Asia. The risk for India, then, if these relations continue to worsen, is that Bangladesh may become more solidly aligned with China, lessening India’s relative power and threatening their regional hegemony. As for Bangladesh, there are a whole host of questions to answer and decisions to make after the ousting of the previous Prime Minister. This puts the country in a relatively fragile place — making it a poor decision to provoke India, but providing them an opportunity to choose whether they want to strengthen ties with India or allow them to fall to the side.
This situation, again, ties into realism and national security. It’s imperative that India maintain ties with Bangladesh or find another way to compensate for the loss of it if they want to maintain their power. There’s also a sense of competition with China for control of the region — if China becomes more of a hold in Bangladesh, they can gain more of a hold in South Asia. Both of these regions are attempting to increase their power, which in turn threatens the other and incentivizes them to increase their power in response.