Zia brought suit piece, Ershad the cow, Moin the horse, Begum Zia the push in

The Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina went to India on a four-day visit at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A formal meeting was held between the Prime Ministers of the two countries on September 6. During the meeting, seven MoUs were signed between the two countries, including pledges for fuel and food aid. India has provided duty free transit facility to Bangladesh. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Bangladesh in 2020. At that time, he invited the Prime Minister of Bangladesh to visit India, as per custom. Before such a meeting, there are various meetings between the two countries at different stages regarding the agenda. The final form of these meetings is the meeting of the two leaders. There is nothing to give and take in these meetings. There are various unresolved issues regarding Bangladesh-India. Many of these have already been resolved. On many issues, discussions between the two countries are still continuing. Ganges water distribution, implementation of land boundary agreement, suppression of separatists, border killings, sea boundary disputes, determination of share of common river water etc. were the most important Bangladesh-India post 75 issues. Many of these unresolved issues have been resolved over the past decade. Still there are issues like border killing, Teesta water agreement. In this, border killings have come down a lot. The two countries have pledged to stop border killings in this visit as well. The Teesta water deal is stalled due to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's objection. But the relationship between the two neighboring states is never about give and take. A country's socio-economic development largely depends on its relations with its neighbors. It doesn't matter whether the neighbor is big or small. Mutual trust, confidence and cooperation between the two neighboring states is important for both countries. A good relationship between two countries can complement each other's development. Enmity with a neighbor never comforts a state. India is historical friend of Bangladesh. The relationship between the two countries is bound by blood ties. India's full cooperation in the liberation war against Pakistan in 1971 will be remembered forever. Those who cherish the spirit of liberation war in Bangladesh, never fail to express their gratitude to India for this. Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 71 expressed deep respect for the unstinting cooperation of India and Mrs. Indira Gandhi. Besides, he was determined to build a self-respecting Bangladesh. Not loyal to India but the Father of the Nation wanted a respectful and dignified relationship. Accordingly, Bangabandhu prioritized the withdrawal of Indian troops immediately after independence. On February 6, 1972, the Father of the Nation visited India. It was during this visit that he requested Mrs. Gandhi to withdraw the troops. Indira Gandhi kept Bangabandhu's request. The withdrawal of the Indian Army was completed on March 15, before the Indian Prime Minister visited Bangladesh on March 17, 1972, on the birthday of the Father of the Nation. It was Bangabandhu who signed the historic alliance between Bangladesh and India. This historic agreement was signed on March 19, 1972 during the visit of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to Bangladesh, which is the foundation of the relationship between the two countries. On May 16, 1974, the Bangladesh-India border agreement was signed at the initiative of Bangabandhu. Through these agreements, the father of the nation took the 'independence' of Bangladesh to a new height. Bangabandhu laid the foundation for a relationship full of mutual respect and dignity between the two countries. Those who opposed the independence of Bangladesh in 71, started anti-India slogans in the hope of cheap popularity in Bangladesh after independence. In 1975, the evil forces that brutally killed the father of the nation with his own family spread hatred for India and spread the conspiracy to turn Bangladesh into Pakistan again. 'Anti-India' was a cheap political trend in the politics of post-75 Bangladesh. The opposite course of the liberation war was revived by the intimidation of 'Bharat Juju'. Opposition of India, opposition of Awami League and opposition of the spirit of the liberation war were gradually combined into one point in a planned manner. When Awami League comes to power, Bangladesh will become a state of India. If the Awami League comes to power, ululudhvani will be heard in the mosque. There will be no Azan in the mosque. etc. various statements were spread in Goebbels style. Zia, Ershad and Begum Zia have continuously tried to mislead the public with these cheap rumors. With these statements, fanatics, fundamentalists and anti-freedom forces have been given an opportunity to flourish.

From 1975 to 1996, the hottest issue in the politics of Bangladesh was 'India'. Even in the election campaign of 1996, Begum Zia said in a public meeting in Feni, 'If Awami League wins the election, Feni will be taken over by India (Source: Daily Ittefaq 30 May 1996). But India fear did not work in that election. Awami League came to power after 21 years. After receiving the responsibility of running the country, Sheikh Hasina was able to negotiate the water distribution agreement of the Ganges. The Hill Peace Treaty was another unique achievement of her. Bangladesh-India relations were moving on a normal path again. Meanwhile, India started a 'new diplomacy' towards neighboring countries. On the principle of ‘Not just relationship with one party’ India was keen to develop relations with all political parties in Bangladesh. It is from this interest that India increased its proximity with BNP and Jamaat. A high-level delegation of BNP visited India before the 2001 elections. BNP made a bunch of promises during that visit. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said these things directly in several of her speeches. She said that ‘India's intelligence agency 'R' had a meeting with BNP. In that meeting, 'R' agreed to cooperate with BNP in the election.’ A historic event happened in the 2001 election. A rare unity between India and Pakistan formed in favor of BNP. The head of Pakistan's intelligence agency admitted in a court deposition that the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI had given money to BNP in that election. But after the 2001 elections, India becomes disillusioned. Bangladesh-India border region became a sanctuary for Indian separatists with Pakistani help. After the 10-truck weapons incident, India realizes that 'nothing is more dangerous than a greedy, unfaithful friend.' BNP played an excellent Tata drama at that time. The then energy adviser screamed with joy that Tata was investing in Bangladesh. BNP leaders keep singing chorus, Tata is coming, Tata is coming. But suddenly the Tata song went off. The BNP-Jamaat coalition government has said, "there is no deal with Tata due to gas price issue." But India's influential magazine Frontline broke the bones in the market. They said in an exclusive report that, ‘An influential figure from the BNP government and his friend demanded a huge amount of bribe from Tata. There is no scope for such deviation in Tata's investment guidelines. That is why Tata withdrew from investment in Bangladesh.’ Which means, BNP has not considered the interests of the people of Bangladesh in its relations with India. For the sake of staying in power, they have spread hatred towards India. Also, they gave their all to India to come to power.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has been causing a lot of noise pollution since the beginning of the Prime Minister's visit to India. Mirza Fakhrul said, ‘Every time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visits, she only gives but cannot bring anything.’ BNP Secretary General said 'I don't want to talk about the Prime Minister's visit to India. We have a bitter and disappointing experience behind us. Every time we hoped that maybe this time, she would come up with something. Every time I have seen, he has only given but could not bring anything.' Is friendship a give-and-take relationship? If a relationship is only about give and take, then that can be anything but friendship. BNP's Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi is tougher than Mirza Fakhrul. He said, ‘Sheikh Hasina has sold sovereignty to India.’ Ruhul Kabir Rizvi is an immense entertainment in the politics of Bangladesh. His words are so hilarious that its hard to take is seriously. Mirza Fakhrul is a wise person. He was a teacher before joining politics. He was an MP; he was a minister. So, his comment will worry us. The Father of the Nation gave Bangladesh-India relations a foundation of respect and equality. But what did the BNP-Jatiya Party and Fakhruddin-Moin U Ahmed government bring from India after 75? I tried to find out a little bit.

On 19 December 1977, Ziaur Rahman visited India for the first time after assuming power. A Ministry of External Affairs notification called the visit, ‘Developing the best relationship with the neighbor’. No deal was signed during the two-day visit. No agreement was signed. Zia met Indian Prime Minister Morarji Desai at a tea party. There the Prime Minister of India presented a suit piece to Zia. "Anandbazar" of December 20 published an excellent indicative report about this. "Morarji gave Zia a suit piece as soon as he left his uniform." Zia was then the army chief, the chief martial law administrator and the president. The dashing politician Desai gave him a suit piece to convince him that, there is no Bilateral talks with a self-proclaimed president in uniform. Zia made two more visits to India during his reign. On January 21, 1980, Zia visited India to attend the UNIDO conference. Just 7 days before Zia's visit to India, Indira Gandhi made a royal comeback on January 14 through the vote revolution. She again became the Prime Minister of India with an absolute majority. At that time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh could not arrange a courtesy meeting with Mrs. Gandhi despite its best efforts. Zia's last visit to India was on 3 September 1980. Zia visited India to attend the Regional Commonwealth Conference. This time he was able to participate in a photo session with the Prime Minister of India. Zia did not utter a word about Ganges water, border killing etc.

After the death of Zia, the then army chief Hussain Mohammad Ershad seized power on March 24, 1982. Ershad came to power and tried to win India's heart. On October 6, 1982, Ershad accompanied Roshan Ershad on a tour to India. According to the news of "Times of India", Ershad presented the rationale for the imposition of martial law and his assumption of power to the Indian government. "Anandbazar" says that Ershad was gifted a pair of cows from India. The following year, Ershad again went to Delhi to attend the Non-Aligned Conference. This time he was able to have a meeting with Indira Gandhi. But Ershad could not even bring the unresolved issue of Bangladesh to the discussion table. Ershad went to India on November 3, 1984 to attend Indira Gandhi's funeral. Ershad's last visit to India was on July 16, 1986. This was Ershad's first and only state visit. In this meeting with Rajiv Gandhi, there was no discussion about the distribution of Ganges water or land boundary agreement.

Begum Zia came to power and went on a three-day visit to India on 25 May 1992. It was the state visit of the Prime Minister of Bangladesh. In the private meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, the main topic of discussion was to stop the entry of illegal Bangladeshis into India. After the meeting of Begum Zia with Narasimha Rao, pushin started from India. Begum Zia spoke to reporters at the airport after returning to Dhaka after a three-day visit. At that time a journalist asked if there was any discussion about the distribution of Ganges water. Begum Zia said, "I had forgotten about it." Anyway, the push in started after the Prime Minister's visit to India. India began deporting illegal infiltrators back to Bangladesh. The local media claimed that Begum Zia had given a bond in this regard during her visit. After Begum Zia came to power for the second term, on March 20, 2006, Begum Zia went to Delhi with a delegation of 96 members including 40 businessmen. Manmohan Singh's meeting with Begum Zia was full of bitterness. India expresses concern over the activities of Indian separatists in Bangladesh. The two Prime Ministers also discussed the persecution of minorities and emigration of Hindus. The Indian Prime Minister demanded Bangladesh's clear role in dealing with militancy and separatists in the interest of regional security. The meeting was so bitter that the two countries did not even issue a joint manifesto. A joint press release was pledged to work together on all issues, including security and trade. The BNP-Jamaat alliance led by Begum Zia left power creating a terrible political turmoil. In this context, one-eleven government led by Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed came to power. The main authority of this army-backed government was in the hands of the then army chief General Moin U Ahmed. In February 2008, General Moin U Ahmed went to India on a five-day visit at the invitation of the Indian Army Chief. During that visit, Bangladesh Army Chief had a courtesy call on Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He held an important meeting with Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee. General Moin U Ahmed returned with six horses after a 5-day tour.

Following the words of BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, I tired found out the history of the visits of the heads of government of all periods to India. Apart from Father of the Nation Bangabandhu and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has anyone else been able to bring anything from India to the people of Bangladesh? In the first term, Sheikh Hasina signed an agreement on the distribution of Ganges water. In his second term, she implemented the land boundary agreement signed during Bangabandhu's time. The treaty was signed in 1974 but was not ratified by the Indian Parliament. Zia, Ershad, Begum Zia no one even tried to implement it. Due to Sheikh Hasina's successful diplomacy, the enclave's life in captivity ended. Sheikh Hasina settled the sea dispute. She took initiatives to stop border killings. This time she has collected the share of the Kushiara river water. Brought transit facilities. On the other hand, she adopted a zero tolerance policy towards separatists and restored trust and confidence between the two countries. The Prime Minister's visit was very important in the global context. Especially, when the world is speeding towards a Great Recession. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister went to India and brought assurance of food and fuel for the people of this country during the emergency. Those who don't understand how big of an achievement it is, are actually sinners of knowledge.