After congratulating West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee who stormed back to power in the state, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has reached out to Assam’s newly elected chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to join Dhaka in reaping the benefits of the development and growth in the South Asian nation.
Hasina, true to her statesman-like nature, is focusing on maintaining good relations with both the regional leaders —interestingly Sarma is the CM of a BJP ruled Assam while Banerjee is leading the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal. Not just that Hasina, who hosted Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March when the South Asian nation was celebrating 50 years of independence, has reiterated from time to time the need for India and Bangladesh to increase bilateral co-operation, trade and connectivity to develop the region. Assam and West Bengal, both have a sizeable Muslim population.
Sarma, a new generation first time CM was quick to reciprocate Hasina's gesture, signaling a new mindset that the development of India's northeast and Bangladesh are co-linked.
"I highly value and cherish the good wishes of Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina. Assam is committed to pursuing the vision of PM Narendra Modi who recently said while in Bangladesh 'Let India and Bangladesh move forward together'. We shall continue to gain mutually," Sarma tweeted in response to Hasina.
Modi and Hasina have already chalked out strategies to improve connectivity and enhance people- to -people connect. The two neighbours share a 4,096-kilometre-long border—the fifth longest in the world. India and Bangladesh also share 54 transboundary rivers, including the Ganges and Brahmaputra.
“The need of the hour is to rise above domestic politics and what we gather is that both Modi and Hasina realise that. We need to focus on the region and the Act East policy must be developed further. In this the northeastern states including Assam and West Bengal will play an important role,” an analyst, on condition of anonymity said.
While people living across the borders may belong to different nationalities, the shared culture, problems and livelihoods relay commonalities, experts said, adding that India and Bangladesh need to focus more on local, micro issues that bind them to strengthen their ties.
“The Sheikh Hasina government will surely balance its relations with the Centre, which is BJP and the states such as West Bengal and Assam with which it shares its borders,” the analyst said. Hasina, he said, is driven by the interest of Bangladesh. “What is important is to understand that her interest in having a developed, peaceful Bangladesh is exactly what India would want. There is synergy in the interests of both neighbours and we need to look at engaging more,” he said.
The US based East-West Center in a recent note highlighted the need to develop the region along the Bay of Bengal. “Upgrading and reviving the multimodal network of marine highways, coastal highways and inland waters with better last mile land connectivity around the Bay of Bengal littoral, particularly between the landlocked and bay-facing nations will be critical to achieve the goal of a vibrant Bay of Bengal community,” it said. Several projects of connectivity are already underway: Inland waterways on the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers between India and Bangladesh are being revived.
News agency ANI quoting Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Hasina invited Sarma “to reap benefits from Bangladesh's growth trajectory in view of the warmth-depth-diversity of Bangladesh-India relationships.”
