India has a number of causes for disliking Bangladesh. In the aftermath of the occasion of the ouster of all-weather pal Sheikh Hasina from energy in August 2024. If we glance into earlier regimes, Delhi developed heightened relations with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (1972-1975) and her daughter, Sheikh Hasina (1976-2001 and 2009-2024).
Why? The Awami League celebration was actually owned by the Sheikhs household was tilted to India when their authorities was in energy. The individuals didn’t prefer it, and hundreds of critics, dissidents, opposition, and likewise journalists have been severely punished by each the autocratic regimes.
Not solely the Awami League, but in addition the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jatiya Party. When the army junta of liberation warfare veteran General Ziaur Rahman (1977-1981) and the opposite by General Hussain Muhammad Ershad (1982-1990) floated their events and recruited politicians largely from the previous defunct Muslim League and pro-Maoist events. Interestingly, the South Block in Delhi had love and hate relations with each the Rahman and Ershad, however each regimes have been suspicious and cautious of the enormous neighbor.
India reciprocated not-so-warm diplomatic relations, however every others leaders have been on reciprocal official state visits to Delhi and Dhaka. Presently, Delhi will not be proud of the sudden change of regime in Dhaka. The 36-day Monsoon Revolution avenue protest by Gen Z compelled Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to stop and flee. She sought political asylum in India.
He was talking at an occasion organized by the Asia Society and the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York final week, which was moderated by Dr Kyung-wha Kang, president and CEO of the Asia Society. He mentioned Indias internet hosting of Hasina has created all types of issues within the nation and is chargeable for the deaths of a whole bunch of younger individuals, and isn’t serving to bilateral ties between the neighbors.
The United Nations human rights physique (OHCHR) claimed that almost 1,400 individuals, together with college students, day by day wage earners, distributors, public transport drivers, and kids.
He flagged a bit of faux news claiming that the youth who caused change in Bangladesh are Taliban.
The Godi media and BJP stalwarts blamed Yunus for interfering in India and making an attempt to stir a separatist motion within the landlocked states, which can usher in Chinas army presence within the battle. He additionally talked about Nepal and Bhutan. The nations welcomed the proposal, which can facilitate their exports by Bangladesh.
Earlier regional research recommended that each Bangladesh and Northeast India have to scale up their multi-modal connectivity, which might not solely assist the area to lift its competitiveness but in addition slim long-standing regional improvement gaps.
The port would immensely profit economically and create jobs in Northeast Indian states, and Japan proposed a plan for highway infrastructure for quick communication to the Bay of Bengal, and likewise developed backward linkage industries.
Japan has proposed growing an industrial hub in Bangladesh with provide chains to the landlocked northeast states of India, Nepal, and Bhutan past by growing a port and connectivity within the area, beneath the Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt (BIG-B) initiative.
The connectivity will carry synergy in commerce facilitation and construct specific corridors for the transshipment and transit of products from northeast India to the Bangladesh port in Chattogram.
The former Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, Japans Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) Vision, centered significantly on rising economies and growing nations within the Indo-Pacific area and territories weak to local weather change and pure disasters.
It comes after Kishida visited India in March 2023, the place he touted the concept of a brand new industrial hub for the Bay of Bengal and Northeast India that might bolster improvement within the impoverished area of 300 million individuals.
After Kishida visited India, Japan accepted $1.27 billion to Bangladesh for 3 infrastructure tasks together with an unlimited business port within the Bay, which can be equal to the Port of Colombo in Sri Lanka or the Port of Singapore by way of water depths, mentioned a JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) official in command of the mission.
After the Japanese Prime Ministers official go to, high Japanese officers visited New Delhi, Guwahati (Assam), Agartala (Tripura), and in Dhaka (Bangladesh). When Japan proposed the port and the financial emancipation of the majoritarian ethnic communities within the Northeast in 2023, the Indians cheered, after Japanese high officers made shows within the Indian cities.
Japan needs her bodily presence within the Bay of Bengal. As prestigious Japanese media Nikkei Asia writes, Bangladeshs formidable deep-sea port guarantees a strategic anchor for Japan and India.
A mega seaport beneath building is shaping as much as be a strategic linchpin for Japan and India because the QUAD (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) companions (Australia, India, Japan, and the United States) purpose to counter Chinese affect within the South China Sea.
The Red Sun, as Japan is branded, plans to construct a Bengal Northeast India industrial worth chain in cooperation with India and Bangladesh to foster development within the area.
A mega deep-sea port at Matarbari, in southeast Bangladesh waters, is anticipated to be accomplished in 2027. The complicated will take a significant load off of the countrys primary Chattogram (previously Chittagong) port and a commerce gateway for northeast India, which might be lower than 100 kilometers from the large port facility.
Whatever the geopolitical technique, the deep-sea port mission has the potential to enhance regional commerce ties, enhance funding, create jobs, and assist infrastructural improvement, spurring financial development for Bangladesh, Northeast India, Nepal, and Bhutan, in addition to the encircling areas of the Bay of Bengal.
First revealed inStratheia Policy Journal, Islamabad, Pakistan, 27 September 2025
Saleem Samad is an impartial journalist primarily based in Bangladesh and a media rights defender with Reporters Without Borders. He is the recipient of the Ashoka Fellowship and the Hellman-Hammett Award. He could possibly be reached at
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