Indian Express column points to MEA lobby blocking thaw in India-Bangladesh ties

A powerful lobby within India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) may be working against efforts to repair strained relations between New Delhi and Dhaka, according to an opinion column published by The Indian Express on Sunday.

In her September 6 Inside Track column, titled “Outsiders Unwelcome”, journalist Coomi Kapoor wrote that diplomatic insiders in both Delhi and Bangladesh believe sections of the MEA have played a role in thwarting attempts at a rapprochement between the two neighbours.

Kapoor suggested the resistance could be linked to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to appoint politician Dinesh Trivedi, a non-Indian Foreign Service officer, as India’s High Commissioner to Bangladesh.

Modi had earlier indicated to Indian envoys that more non-IFS diplomats could be appointed as ambassadors in neighbouring countries, the column said.

According to Kapoor, Trivedi had been working to bridge the widening gulf between Delhi and Dhaka and had even persuaded Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to agree to dates for a visit to India.

But those efforts “were not appreciated by all”, she wrote.

The column claimed that after the proposed dates of Rahman’s visit were leaked, the MEA “acted as a spoiler”.

Kapoor pointed in particular to the Indian authorities allowing former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina to address a virtual press conference at Delhi’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club, where she attacked the Bangladesh government.

She contrasted that decision with New Delhi’s previous handling of politically sensitive events involving Bangladesh.

A year earlier, according to the column, the MEA had blocked a proposed Hasina press conference at the Delhi Press Club. In 2018, Indian authorities also denied permission for a British emissary to speak on behalf of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, who was then imprisoned in Bangladesh.

The column further said that two weeks after Hasina’s virtual press conference, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club attempted to organise a foreign-policy seminar featuring speakers with alleged Awami League links. The government ordered the event cancelled, with around 50 police personnel arriving at the club premises, Kapoor wrote.

She also noted that the MEA’s harder line appeared to be reflected in articles by some former Indian diplomats, who have suggested that Rahman’s planned India visit was actually derailed by differences within Bangladesh over the direction of its policy towards New Delhi.

Kapoor, however, presented a different picture: that resistance within India’s own diplomatic establishment may have contributed to frustrating Trivedi’s attempts at rebuilding ties.

With bitterness apparently deepening on both sides, Kapoor wrote that Rahman was now unlikely to attend the BRICS summit in Delhi.

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