Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Dinesh Trivedi has said he does not wish to comment on Bangladesh’s internal politics. He made the remarks to reporters on Tuesday after a courtesy call on Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan.
Asked about relations between India and Bangladesh’s current government, and the strain between the two countries over ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, Trivedi said: “Look, I’m an ambassador. We don’t want to comment on internal politics, and we shouldn’t. What the people of this country understand best, what the elected government with a majority understands is best for its people — that’s the truth of it.”
Asked about his role as India’s representative in Bangladesh and what the relationship between the two countries should look like, he said: “What we want is the same on both sides — a people-to-people relationship, always. Whether it’s me or someone else in this position, it’s the same thing. Your representative in Delhi wants exactly the same — how we can build that people-to-people connection.”
Noting that the responsibility grows heavier because of the two countries’ shared border and neighborly relationship, Trivedi said: “We share a border, and that increases our responsibility as a neighbor. And as neighbors, I always say — we are equal. Nobody is bigger, nobody is smaller.”
On his meeting with Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan, he said: “I’m learning a great deal being here. I was only with the minister for about 30 minutes, but I learned so much in that time. Because of his experience, and why? It’s for the people, isn’t it? So there’s no end to it.”
Emphasizing the importance of each country appreciating the other’s challenges, the Indian high commissioner said: “There will always be challenges. We need to appreciate Bangladesh’s democratic challenges, and Bangladesh needs to appreciate India’s challenges too. Keeping those challenges in mind, we have to move forward.”
Highlighting the need to move ahead rather than remain stuck in the past, Trivedi said: “If we get stuck in the past… we can’t forget the past, but there’s no room to stay stuck there. If we stay stuck, development won’t happen.”
He said the meeting also touched on trade and free trade in the interest of the people of both countries. “We also discussed today how we can achieve people-to-people trade, free trade, between our two countries — dependency or interdependency in free trade. He said this is free trade. So that was discussed too.”
Also present at the meeting, State Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Mir Shahe Alam said: “He [Dinesh Trivedi] came for a courtesy call. In particular, on the occasion of BNP’s founding anniversary today, September 1, he came to convey his country’s greetings to the minister and BNP standing committee member Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan. It was purely a courtesy visit. We also discussed matters related to our ministry.”
On local government elections, he said: “He [Trivedi] shared his experience regarding local government elections. Since he is himself a politician — he was an MP and a minister in India — he shared his experience. My minister and I shared our own political experience as well.”
The state minister said: “On local government elections, we said that our elections will be held this fiscal year, and these elections carry a lot of challenges for us, because we need to make them free, fair and impartial. Since we are a democratic government, elected by the people’s vote, that’s essentially it. The rest of the discussion was all within the bounds of courtesy.”