India and Bangladesh cemented their friendship with the launch of three development projects on Wednesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his counterpart Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the Akhaura-Agartala Cross-Border Rail Link, Khulna-Mongla Port Rail Line and Unit-II of the Maitree Super Thermal Power Plant in Rampal, Bangladesh.
The virtual launch included the historic restarting of the rail connection between Bangladesh and Tripura. Modi said India is proud to be Dhaka’ “biggest development partner” and will continue to support Hasina’s idea of ‘Smart Bangladesh’.
He praised the Awami League president for boosting her country’s development journey and said India remains committed to the ideals of Bangladesh’s founder and Hasina’s father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Incidentally, the two countries have co-produced a biopic of the leader titled Mujib: The Making of a Nation, directed by Shyam Benegal.
The launch of these projects and PM Modi’s endorsement have come at a time when the opposition parties in Bangladesh are violently protesting against Hasina. That is why the development projects are ThePrint’s Newsmaker of the Week.
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Tightening ties
The Modi-Hasina bonhomie was visible not just during the recently concluded G-20 summit in Delhi, but even when Modi visited Bangladesh in March 2021. Hasina quelled violent Islamist protests against the Indian Prime Minister’s Dhaka visit.
The neighbours share historical ties, strengthened by both cultural bonds and India’s help during the 1971 Liberation War when East Pakistan broke away from West Pakistan and became Bangladesh. Relations have improved vastly since 2009, when Hasina became prime minister.
In March this year, Modi and Hasina inaugurated the India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline built at an estimated cost of Rs 377 crore. Bangladesh’s portion, Rs 285 crore, has been borne by the Government of India under grant assistance, read the press release issued by Modi’s office.
The pipeline will put in place a sustainable, reliable, cost-effective and environment-friendly mode of transporting high-speed diesel from India to Bangladesh.
It can transport 1 million metric ton per annum of HSD. With the initial supply to seven districts in northern Bangladesh.
For the Akhaura-Agartala Cross-Border Rail Link project, India has granted assistance of Rs392.52 crore to Bangladesh. The length of the rail link is 12.24 km with a 6.78 km dual gauge rail line in Bangladesh and 5.46 km in Tripura.
The Khulna-Mongla Port Rail Line project has been implemented under the Indian government’s concessional Line of Credit with a total project cost of $388.92 million (Rs 3,234 crore). The project entails the construction of approximately 65 km of broad gauge rail route between Mongla Port, the second-largest port of Bangladesh, and the existing rail network in Khulna.
The Maitree Super Thermal Power project, under an Indian concessional financing scheme loan of $1.6 billion (Rs 13,305 crore), is a 1320 MW super thermal power plant located in Rampal in the Khulna division of Bangladesh.
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 Limited and Bangladesh Power Development Board. These projects will strengthen connectivity and energy security in the region.
“The joint inauguration of these important projects manifests the firm friendship and collaboration between our two friendly countries. I would like to thank PM Modi for the warm hospitality during my visit in September 2023 to attend the G20 Summit,” Hasina said on Wednesday.
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Timing of the launch
With national elections in Bangladesh slated for January 2024, the launch of these projects will help boost Hasina’s pro-development image. Ever since she assumed power in 2009, Hasina has been focussing her government’s energies on infrastructural developments.
“The nation is now a development role model across the world. The economy that once was labelled as a bottomless basket with no hope of survival after the liberation war has now been globally perceived as a development miracle. With the citation of PricewaterhouseCoopers, World Economic Forum predicted in 2017 that Bangladesh’s economy will be worth $3 trillion [Rs 249 lakh crore] in 2050,” Bangladeshi entrepreneur Sanjida Khandoker wrote last year.
But over the years, Hasina’s critics, both within Bangladesh and outside, have pointed to her authoritarian streak, the suppression of free speech and media, large-scale corruption with the proliferation of the syndicate system, and violent suppression of political opposition in the country. Her rival parties, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Jamaat-e-Islami, have, since last weekend, taken to the streets in violent protests demanding her immediate resignation and the installation of a caretaker government before polls are held. And the US has been breathing down her neck, threatening visa restrictions on Bangladeshis, unless she ensures free and fair elections.
Time magazine has put her on its latest cover with the headline ‘Hard Power’. The magazine tweeted—“Under Sheikh Hasina, democracy in Bangladesh hangs in balance.”
The launch of these big-ticket development projects, with India’s aid, may just help Hasina change the conversation.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)