“Excellency, your ‘Smart Bangladesh’ vision is completely supported by India now and in the future,” India Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today, in praise of PM Sheikh Hasina for contributing to Bangladesh’s impressive development path under her leadership.
Modi was speaking at a virtual inauguration of Indo-Bangla development projects, in the presence of Hasina.
“I am happy to add that India is contributing to the building of 12 IT (infotech) parks in 12 districts of Bangladesh,” he said.
The remarks are significant, coming at the crucial time of a rapidly unfolding election season in Bangladesh.
Last weekend, election-related rallies held by the opposition parties resulted in clashes and violence, raising political tension. And earlier this year, the United States, the top buyer of Bangladeshi garments, said its visa policy would restrict Bangladeshis who undermine the democratic election process.
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With international pressure increasing on the ruling party to prove that the general election – to be held in January 2024 – will be free and fair, today’s remarks are a significant gesture from India’s top leadership highlighting the close ties that exist between the two neighbours.
Proud to partner
Modi also stressed on being proud of the fact that India is the biggest development partner of Bangladesh.
“In the short span of last nine years, the success of our joint efforts and achievements has surpassed that of several previous decades,” he said.
This brings to light the key projects and initiatives that the two countries have successfully embarked upon.
For example, for establishing peace, security and stability at the border, India and Bangladesh signed the land boundary agreement that had been delayed for decades. The two nations also resolved the maritime boundary issues.
In terms of connectivity, three new bus services started running between Dhaka and northeastern Indian states. Since 2020, parcel and container trains were also introduced as well as the world’s biggest river cruise, Ganga Vilas, which has given a big boost to tourism.
At the inauguration today, the leaders brought into focus, two rail links and a thermal power plant project.
According to PM Modi, these are new initiatives decided upon by the two leaders jointly.
The projects include an Indo-Bangla rail link, which aims to significantly reduce travel time, connecting India’s Tripura to Bangladesh’s Akhaura. It is estimated that it will cut a long rail journey of 31 hours to merely 10. This project has received grant from India to the value of ₹392.52 crore.
Another rail link, from Bangladesh’s Khulna division to Mongla, the second largest port of the country, has a total project cost of $388.92 million. It involves the construction of approximately 65 km of broad-gauge rail route between Mongla Port and the existing rail network in Khulna.
Also, the Maitree Super Thermal Power Project, under an Indian Concessional Financing Scheme loan of 1.6 billion US dollars, is a 1,320 MW Super Thermal Power Plant located in Rampal in Khulna division. The project has been implemented by the Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Limited, which is a 50:50 Joint Venture company between India’s NTPC Ltd and Bangladesh Power Development Board.
Earlier this year, Modi and Hasina had also launched a first-of-its-kind cross-border energy pipeline, built at an estimated cost of ₹377 crore.
These projects are key to strengthening connectivity and energy security in the region.
From a forward-looking point of view, the initiatives are also critical to ensure further economic growth in both the nations.
According to economist Mihir Sharma, Bangladesh has been an economic success story for the past decade under the leadership of PM Hasina. “Growth has steadily topped 6% and on average, between 2016 and 2021, outpaced countries such as India, Indonesia, and the Philippines,” Sharma writes in an article for Bloomberg.
But this also highlights the greater need to ensure political stability.
PM Hasina, often cited by experts as the “iron lady of Asia”, has been aggressive on economic growth and has ensured security and stability to Bangladesh – in a region that has seen Sri Lanka’s massive economic crisis and Pakistan’s consistent political instabilities.
It is therefore telling of Prime Minister Modi to mention Bangabandhu in his remarks today.
“I am confident that (our efforts) will realise Bangabandhu’s Sonar Bangla vision,” Modi said, extending special gratitude to Hasina for the joint mutual efforts.
It is notable that less than three months before Bangladesh heads into polls, India’s leader made this gesture that speaks volumes about PM Hasina’s importance in leading Bangladesh into the next era of economic prosperity and political stability.
