India & Bangladesh

Story hook

It is 5 August 2024. Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh for 15 continuous years (since 2009), the longest-serving female head of government in the world, flees Dhaka by helicopter. A student protest that began in July 2024 over government job quotas for descendants of Bangladesh Freedom Fighters has escalated into a full-scale revolution. Mobs storm her residence, Ganabhaban. She lands at Hindon Air Base near Delhi as an asylum seeker. Bangladesh that her father — Sheikh Mujibur Rahman — founded in 1971 with direct Indian military, diplomatic and humanitarian intervention now hangs in political balance.

8 August 2024: Nobel laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus — the microfinance pioneer of Grameen Bank — takes oath as Chief Adviser of the Interim Government. The protesters' demand is met. But Hindu temples and homes are attacked in Khulna, Rangpur, Chittagong. India watches with alarm. The most important bilateral in South Asia is in flux.

Hasina's tenure had delivered historic India-Bangladesh cooperation: the 2015 Land Boundary Agreement (ending 60-year-old enclave disputes), transit rights for Indian goods to North-East, rail + road + waterway connectivity (Maitree Express, Petrapole-Benapole ICP, Maitri Bridge), electricity exports to Bangladesh (1,160 MW), trade crossing $15 bn. Now Yunus government is leaning toward balanced multi-alignment — including engagement with Pakistan + China, recalibrating the Hasina-era Indian intimacy.

In December 2024, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri becomes the first Indian official to visit Dhaka post-Hasina. The relationship enters a delicate new chapter. The CAA 2019 + NRC concerns + Teesta water-sharing impasse all add complexity.

Why this matters for UPSC

Bangladesh is India's most important neighbour by every metric except size:

• 4,096 km border — India's longest with any country.
• Bilateral trade ~$13-15 bn.
• Strategic depth — protects North-East access via Bangladeshi territory.
• Civilisational + linguistic ties — Bengali heritage.
• Energy + water cooperation — 54 rivers; ~1,160 MW Indian electricity exports.

UPSC weighting:

• Prelims: 1971 Bangladesh War, LBA 2015, Teesta, Farakka, Ganga Water Treaty 1996, Maitree Express, transit agreements.
• Mains GS-II: Hasina-era cooperation; 2024 transition; CAA + NRC spillover; Rohingya crisis; cross-border insurgency.
• Interview: "Will Bangladesh tilt to China post-Hasina?", "Should Teesta be resolved?", "Is CAA worth the diplomatic cost?".