Bangladesh Seeks to 'Reset' Relations with India, Prioritizes National Interests

Bangladesh has expressed its desire to completely "reset" its bilateral relations with India and start a new chapter based on mutual interests. Bangladesh's State Minister for Foreign Affairs Humayun Kabir, in a statement, described the relationship between the two countries under former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as "uneasy." Bangladesh, he said, must get out of its excessive fascination with India and look at it from a balanced perspective like any other normal country. We have to rise above this mindset, he said. The country will not be able to focus on its internal and national interests by thinking about India all the time. This diplomatic statement comes at a time when discussions between the two countries were heated over the BRICS summit that concluded on Sunday. India had invited Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to join BRICS as the chair of BIMSTEC, while a separate bilateral invitation had already been sent to him since February. It was made clear after Bangladesh's invitation to the Indian High Commissioner for Water Resources, Dinesh Trivedi, that Bangladesh wants to continue its multilateral dialogue instead of directly engaging in bilateral talks.