Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will arrive in Dhaka Wednesday night on her first bilateral visit to display the importance her government attaches to Bangladesh.Though both the countries termed it as a ‘goodwill’ visit, she will have talks with top leadership during which major bilateral issues, including Land Boundary Agreement (LBA), proposed Teesta water sharing pact, ‘illegal immigration’ and market access to India are likely to figure prominently on the discussion table.Hours before her departure from New Delhi, Sushma has reportedly spoken to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee about her visit.She, according to Indian media reports, made a call to Banerjee to inform her about the visit during which she will hold talks with top Bangladeshi leaders on key bilateral issues.Then Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh could not sign the Teesta agreement during his visit to Bangladesh in 2011 as Mamata declined to accept the draft that was agreed on by the two countries. it should be recalled. Since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi enjoys majority, Dhaka now expects the pending issues could be resolved soon.Shushama will carry a letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi inviting Sheikh Hasina to visit India in the coming months.Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh, Spokesperson of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs Syed Akbaruddin and senior officials are scheduled to accompany Sushma.She will meet President Abdul Hamid at Bangabahban and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her office on Thursday after holding bilateral talks with her Bangladesh counterpart AH Mahmood Ali earlier in the day.She is expected to meet Leader of the Opposition Raushon Ershad prior to departure on Friday morning.BNP sources said there would be a meeting between BNPChairperson Khaleda Zia and the Indian External Affairs Minister on Friday morning.The Indian External Affairs Minister will also have engagement with think tanks, chambers of commerce and industry and cultural organisations.She would also deliver a lecture on Bangladesh-India relations at an event to be organised by the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) on Thursday evening.The Dhaka visit of India’s new foreign minister Sushma Swaraj has again been held hostage to India’s domestic politics often characterised by competitive radicalism. This phenomenon has done much damage to India-Bangladesh relations in the five/six years, despite the Hasina government in Dhaka providing much opportunities to Delhi to take the bilateral ties to a new height. If the BJP’s opposition, coupled with that of Trinamul Congress and Asom Gana Parishad, prevented the Congress from formalising the land boundary agreement and signing the Teesta water sharing deal with Bangladesh, it is the Congress in Assam now opposing a proposal to allow visa-free entry to Bangladesh children and senior citizens.India’s ministry of external affairs (MEA) had come up with this proposal ahead of Sushma Swaraj’s visit to Dhaka. The proposal also sought visa-on-arrival for all other Bangladesh nationals – and visa-free entry for those below 10 or above 65 years. Sushma Swaraj herself was keen on this proposal because this would have given her something to offer Bangladesh as foreign minister. But it was Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi who has played the spoilsport this time. Four years ago, he visited Dhaka with Manmohan Singh and attacked Mamata Banerjee for sabotaging the Teesta agreement. Gogoi decided to play the patriot and oppose the MEA proposals on grounds of national security. On the visa regime, West Bengal and Tripura supported the MEA proposals while Meghalaya remained non-committal.The BJP was not willing to be stumped by the Congress in an attempt to look nice to Bangladesh. What Sushma Swaraj may now offer Bangladesh at the most is long term multiple entry visas for children and senior citizens, reports received from India said.The MEA spokesperson said on the eve of her visit that the visa-on-arrival proposals were not yet up for bilateral discussions. So, India will again miss out on doing something that would have gone down really well with the people of Bangladesh, and not just the government in Dhaka. Sushma Swaraj would surely reiterate India’s commitment to sign the Teesta water sharing deal and implement the land boundary agreement. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been courting both India and China as well as Japan and Russia to stump the West, which had been opposed to the January 5 parliamentary elections that brought her back to power.Bangladesh and China are discussing construction of a second deep sea port at Sonadia, a tiny island in the Bay of Bengal. Sonadia may emerge as a major regional trade hub as it provides sea access to China’s Yunnan province, India’s landlocked northeastern states, the Himalayan nations of Nepal and Bhutan.With one Chinese company getting the contract to construct the 6.15 km railroad bridge on the mighty Padma river, Beijing is all set to gain huge visibility in Bangladesh at a time when India is hardly able to offer anything tangible.Without needlessly hitting panic buttons, China’s growing presence in Bangladesh should cause Delhi to ponder about its own policy towards Bangladesh, Indian media said. Considering Hasina’s positive role in addressing India’s security concerns, evident in the crackdown against rebel groups from northeast India, New Delhi should first sign and implement the Teesta and land boundary agreement before it asks for anything else, reports added.
