How Sheikh Hasina’s exit from Dhaka Impact India ?
Bangladesh and India reached a new height. What does Hasina's resignation from the prime minister seat of Bangladesh signify for India now?
What friend Sheikh Hasina’s exit from Dhaka means for India
Sheikh Hasina is well-versed in Delhi, having spent six years living there as its “secret resident”. Delhi is also familiar with Sheikh Hasina. India had a reliable friend in a strategically important neighboring country – Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister of Bangladesh. Hasina resolved long-standing border disputes and reduced the area available for anti-Indian actions in Bangladesh. The relationship between Bangladesh and India reached a new height under her leadership. What does Dhaka’s loss of Hasina mean for India?
When Hasina took office in 2009, it was the Manmohan Singh-led Congress administration in India. It was only natural for Hasina and her family to become close to a government headed by Congress, whose previous leader had granted them refuge .
Hasina was compelled to step down as prime minister on Monday as chaos descended upon Bangladesh following weeks of violent protests that claimed hundreds of lives. What began as an anti-quota movement evolved into a demonstration calling for her resignation. The public’s disapproval of Hasina had been steadily increasing. Her regime’s demise came with the deaths of student protestors.
Read more – Chaos in Bangladesh: Sheikh Hasina Resigns and Flees Amidst Deadly Clashes
India would need to recalculate its calculations, though, given it invested in Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government for more than ten years and in several New Delhi administrations before her hasty departure from Bangladesh.
India and Bangladesh started talking about a free trade agreement (FTA) in October 2023 during a Joint Working Group on Trade conference in Dhaka. Customs taxes on goods exchanged between Bangladesh and India would be lowered or eliminated under an FTA, and regulations would be loosened to encourage more investment and trade.
A 2012 working paper from the World Bank projected that Bangladesh’s exports to India would rise by 182% with a full free trade agreement (FTA) and by 134% under a partial FTA. However, Bangladesh’s exports might increase to 297% with an FTA combined with stronger connectivity and transportation facilities. Under this scenario, India’s exports would rise by up to 172% as well. With a successful FTA, Bangladesh’s market share would increase significantly, and Indian consumers would have greater access to manufactured goods.
India’s access to the Northeast, which is only connected to mainland India by the 22 km-thick that separates West Bengal and Assam, may be restricted if relations between Bangladesh and India are disrupted.
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