The Indian government has adopted infrastructure development policies for the country’s north-eastern state to increase connections with Bangladesh, but political and religious tensions now risk complicating the situation. Despite calls for diplomacy in New Delhi and Dhaka, Tripura hotels and hospitals say they do not want Bangladeshis.

Agartala (AsiaNews) – Tensions are running high between India and Bangladesh, especially in along the borders with the Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura, the latter being located in northeastern India, a region geographically linked to the rest of the country by a corridor that is 22-kilometre wide at its narrowest point.

Relations began to deteriorate after large-scale anti-government protests forced Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign in August and flee to India, which had supported her authoritarian rule for the previous 15 years.

Recently, a group of protesters stormed the Bangladeshi consulate in Agartala, the capital of Tripura, ostensibly in response to the arrest in Bangladesh of a local Hindu leader, Chinmoy Krishna Das, who had held a protest late last month in favour of religious minorities.

Bangladesh, unlike India, is a Muslim-majority country, and many Bangladeshis see Hindus as supporters of the former prime minister and her party, the Awami League.

New Delhi distanced itself from the consulate incident and local police arrested seven people and suspended three officers for negligence following the unrest.

The attackers claimed to be members of the Hindu Sangharsh Samiti (Hindu Action Committee), which is not a registered organisation, according to The Indian Express, but a slogan used by activists, including some in India’s extreme right.

Despite diplomatic statements between the two governments, tensions have persisted. After images were posted online showing students in Dhaka trampling the Indian flag, the All Tripura Hotel and Restaurant Owners’ Association announced that it would no longer offer services to Bangladeshis.

The association later reversed itself, saying that Indians who come for medical treatment would be accepted. However, ILS Hospital, a private hospital in Agartala, said it would not treat Bangladeshi patients.

Yesterday the Bangladeshi consuls in Kolkata, West Bengal, and Agartala, Tripura, were recalled home for "consultations".

Recent developments between the two countries run against the area’s history; locals like to say that if Bangladesh is surrounded by India, Tripura is surrounded by Bangladesh.

During Bangladesh's war of independence from Pakistan in 1971, Tripura housed refugees fleeing violence and the headquarters of the Bangladeshi forces fighting for liberation.

For a long time, Northeastern India has been characterised by economic underdevelopment caused by poor connections and infrastructure and has been the scene of ethnic conflicts.

Things began to change at the start of the 21st century, when Delhi launched North-eastern Region Vision in Agartala.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has worked with former Prime Minister Hasina to increase connectivity in the region. In 2021, the Maitri Setu, a bridge that connects Sabroom, in Tripura, to Chittagong, Bangladesh’s main port city, and the railway line that runs from Agartala to Akhaura, in Bangladesh, were inaugurated.

The year before, several trade routes were opened along various rivers and a special economic zone was established to develop four sectors (agri-food, rubber, bamboo, textiles).

Bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh was worth billion in fiscal year 2023-24.

Since he took power, Bangladesh’s current prime minister, Muhammad Yunus, stressed that reports of attacks on religious minorities are exaggerated; from his statements, he seems hopeful that relations between the two neighbours can be restored, despite recent political and religious tensions.

Several analysts believe that the Indian government should try to tone down the rhetoric.

“It is imperative that [the] Indian government sends a clear message that it is ready and willing to make a shift in its policy and work with the current government and the people of Bangladesh,” said Ali Riaz, a professor at Illinois State University in the United States.

“Besides, it is important that [the] Indian government ensures that its land is not being used by Hasina or anyone else for creating instability and violence within Bangladesh,” he added.

However, the State of Tripura, like the central government in New Delhi, is also led by the Hindu ultranationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In 2018, the BJP, which until 2013 did not even have a seat in the state’s legislative assembly, won an overwhelming majority, while in 2023 it managed to stay in power thanks to an alliance with a local party, the Tipra Motha Party, which until a few years ago called for the creation of a separate state for indigenous Tripuri,  the largest tribal group.

In August this year, the BJP won more than 97 per cent of the panchayats (the lowest administrative level in rural areas), but the opposition complained that they were unable to put forward candidates due to intimidation by the ruling party.

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• india
• bangladesh
• west bengal
• tripura
• tense relations
• tribal tripuri