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When it comes to unusual geographical location, Bangladesh can be compared with Lesotho, a southern African sovereign country landlocked by South Africa. Thanks to the Bay of Bengal rimming its coastal areas, Bangladesh can be called a country blessed by nature. It has a vast opening to the outside world through its sea routes.
Thus allowing the Indian North-East to connect the rest of the vast country across the Feniriver flowing along the two countries' border is filled with attitudes demonstrating warm neighbourliness. They come mainly from the Bangladesh side. Allowing India's North-Eastern states to use the bridge to connect the largest Bangladesh seaport in Chattogram does speak of its sincere goodwill gesture to its neighbour. The Indian-made 1.9 kilometre bridge, aptly called MoitreeSetu (Friendship Bridge), links Sabroom in the state of Tripura with Ramgarh in Bangladesh. The Chattogram port is now just 80km from Sabroom. Although the border bridge appears to be serving the Tripura state the most, it will in fact work as the gateway for the whole landlocked 8-state N-E to the sea. Coming to land connectivity, the bridge will facilitate transportation of goods to West Bengal and the nearby states from the N-E through Bangladesh. The sea routes are considered critical for the states to carry products to and from the other remote regions in India. Thanks to the bridge, inter-country trade benefits are expected to be enjoyed by Bangladesh. At the same time Bangladesh-Nepal and Bangladesh-Bhutan trading activities may also get a boost.
Prior to the opening of the Feni Bridge, unlike now, the nearest seaport for the Indian N-E states was Kolkata. The West Bengal state capital is over 1600 kilometres away from Agartala, capital of Tripura. The vast distance has now been reduced to less than 100km, thanks to the crossing of the bridge and the following road movement across Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Prime Minister was apparently able to realise the critical role the Feni Bridge was set to play in cutting time and cost in transporting goods from the Indian N-E to the other parts of the land through the bridge. It's these fruits of the bridge's operation that may have prompted her to say, "The bridge is poised to open a new chapter in trade and people-to-people movement between India and Bangladesh." She has admitted that the sub-continent has so far remained conservative in opening up, and inter-regional trade is far below its potential.
In the post-Cold War free trade era, rigid politico-geographical boundaries and different forms of trade barriers are fast emerging as hindrances to multipronged developments of the given countries. Apart from those with their relations mired in age-old, intractable hostilities, the 21st century countries are in general more interested in establishing fresh ties featuring warmth and mutual benefits. Against this backdrop, whenever the Bangladesh-India relations have been taken up in bilateral negotiations and fora, an issue has invariably occupied a remarkable space: the military, diplomatic and humanitarian help India provided to Bangladesh fighting a formidable enemy in 1971. It has become part of history. Without India's direct help and cooperation, it might have taken years for Bangladesh to taste complete freedom from the Pakistani brutal military rule and see itself as a sovereign country. In spite of the changing political equations in greater Asia, Bangladesh can ill afford to follow any diplomatic course that goes against India's interest. On the other hand, the neighbouring nuclear power has never refrained from keeping Bangladesh in high esteem. It was seen in the withdrawal of the victorious Indian armed forces in the post-Liberation War from Bangladesh soil.
The apparently 'challenging' task could have seen foot-dragging on the part of the 1971 victorious Indian Allied Forces. But the supreme leader of Bangladesh independence --- Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, desired that the Indian Army go back home. And Mrs Indira Gandhi complied, discovering in Sheikh Mujib an uncompromising and trusted friend. And the army went back.
The Indian policy vis-à-vis Bangladesh remained almost unchanged during the tenure of a number of coalition governments, and the right-wing BJP. The Congress government's policy towards the small but dignity-conscious Bangladesh hasn't changed except the distressing 'pushback' and 'push-in' episode emerging during theNarasimha Rao's Congress government (1991-1996).
In 1996, Indian Prime Minister H.D. DeveGowda signed a 30-year treaty on the Ganges water sharing at the FarakkaBarriage point with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to a guarded 'satisfactory reaction' on the part of Bangladesh. Bangladesh had objections on the volume of water to be released by India. It may have thought it wise not to badger the upstream country for more water during the lean period. It was during the tenure of the present Indian Prime Minister NarendraModi that the exchange of the adversely possessed territories (enclaves) in the two countries took place. In the process that occurred in 2015-2016, Bangladesh got back all its 111 adversely possessed 'territories' on its own land. To the sufferers of the enclave-dwellers living in both Bangladeshi and Indian territories, the historic event virtually emerged as 'freedom'
Thanks to the seasoned and pragmatic politicians in power in New Delhi, India has hardly taken any step in the world forums which might displease Bangladesh. It began with the ruling Congress Premier Indira Gandhi in 1971, who had embarked on an all-out world tour to win supportfor the emerging Bangladesh.
The successive Indian governments have not put any pressure on Bangladesh on any bilateral or regional issues. Lately, a few irritants have emerged in the Bangladesh-India relations. The dominant among them is Bangladesh's due share of water from the common river Teesta. Another is strong Indian commitment to cooperation with Bangladesh in sending back the Rohingya refugees from the beleaguered country. The ball of the Teesta water lies in the court of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Her negative stance on the Teesta issue detracts a lot from the warmth of the two countries' bilateral ties. The rail connectivity that began with the Moitree Express in 2008 has undoubtedly matured into the MoitreeSetu. The Bangladesh-India connectivity outlets cannot be frittered away.