There are moments in diplomacy when individual meetings matter less for what is said behind closed doors than for the pattern they collectively create. India and Bangladesh may be entering precisely such a moment.
On Monday, Indian High Commissioner Dinesh Trivedi met Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman in Dhaka. Rahman spoke of creating a conducive environment for improving bilateral relations. On the same day, another significant engagement was taking place in the Bangladeshi capital, India’s Research and Analysis Wing chief Parag Jain met the Prime Minister’s Defence Affairs Adviser, Brigadier General (Retd.) Dr AKM Shamsul Islam.
Viewed separately, these could be treated as routine diplomatic and security engagements. Viewed together with developments over the past six months, however, they point towards something more important: New Delhi and Dhaka are rebuilding a relationship through sustained institutional contact rather than waiting for every political disagreement to disappear.
That is exactly the right approach.
India moved quickly after Bangladesh’s February election. Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Tarique Rahman on his electoral victory and spoke to him directly, reaffirming India’s commitment to the peace, progress and prosperity of both countries. More importantly, India signalled that it was prepared to work with Bangladesh’s new political reality rather than remain trapped in the politics of the past.
That message was reinforced when Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla travelled to Dhaka for Rahman’s swearing-in and carried a personal letter from Modi inviting the new Bangladeshi PM to visit India. This demonstrated that New Delhi wanted political engagement with the new government to begin immediately and at a high level.
The traffic has moved in both directions.
In April, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr Khalilur Rahman travelled to India and met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. He also held meetings with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. India reiterated its desire to engage constructively with Bangladesh’s new government, while both sides agreed to explore proposals for deepening the partnership through existing bilateral mechanisms.
This is particularly important because India-Bangladesh relations cannot be managed exclusively through prime ministerial summits. A mature relationship requires multiple channels operating simultaneously: Political, diplomatic, economic, security, border management, and people-to-people.
That institutional architecture is now visibly returning.
In June, senior officers of the Border Security Force and Border Guard Bangladesh met in New Delhi for their director-general-level conference. The border remains one of the most sensitive areas in bilateral relations, with disagreements over killings, illegal crossings, smuggling and movement across the frontier. Yet precisely because disagreements exist, keeping the two forces talking is essential.
An equally important breakthrough came on the people-to-people front. In June, India announced the resumption of tourist visas for Bangladeshi nationals after a suspension lasting nearly two years. High Commissioner Trivedi announced the move during a visit to the Indian Visa Application Centre in Dhaka. Restoring ordinary travel matters enormously in a relationship where families, businesses, students, patients and cultural networks routinely cross the border.
The Jain-Islam meeting adds another layer to this process. Security cooperation between India and Bangladesh has historically been one of the quiet foundations of bilateral stability. The fact that senior security officials are engaging while diplomatic channels are simultaneously active suggests that the relationship is being rebuilt across institutions rather than around personalities alone.
This does not mean the relationship is suddenly free of problems.
The Sheikh Hasina issue remains deeply contentious. Dhaka has sought her extradition, while India has said the matter is being considered through its legal processes. Water sharing, particularly the future of the Ganges Water Sharing Treaty, border management and trade irritants also require careful negotiation.
But successful diplomacy is not the absence of disagreements. It is the ability to prevent disagreements from consuming the entire relationship.
Geography makes estrangement between India and Bangladesh extraordinarily costly. Bangladesh sits at the heart of India’s connectivity with its Northeast. India surrounds Bangladesh on three sides and remains an indispensable economic, energy, and connectivity partner. The two countries share rivers, a vast border, transport networks, electricity links, cultural connections, and intertwined security interests.
There is therefore a simple strategic reality that governments in both capitals eventually must confront: Neither country gains from prolonged hostility.
The challenge now is to convert the current momentum into deliverables.
Visa normalization should continue. Border mechanisms should meet regularly. Trade bottlenecks should be addressed. Energy cooperation should be expanded. Connectivity projects linking Bangladesh with India’s Northeast and the wider Bay of Bengal economy should regain momentum. Water negotiations must be pursued seriously rather than allowed to become instruments of nationalist politics.
Most importantly, Prime Minister Rahman and Prime Minister Modi should meet when circumstances permit. India’s invitation provides an opportunity to move the reset from official-level engagement to political ownership at the highest level.
The emerging sequence is encouraging: Modi reaching out after the election, Birla travelling to Dhaka, Bangladesh’s foreign minister engaging New Delhi, border forces returning to structured dialogue, tourist visas resuming, Trivedi meeting Rahman, and now senior security officials talking directly.
No single meeting can transform India-Bangladesh relations. But diplomacy is built through accumulation.
One conversation creates space for the next; political contact enables bureaucratic engagement; security dialogue builds confidence; easier visas reconnect societies; and economic cooperation creates constituencies that have a stake in stability.
That is why the developments in Dhaka this week matter. India and Bangladesh do not need a dramatic declaration of friendship. They need sustained, pragmatic, and institutional engagement.
For the first time in some time, that machinery appears to be moving again, and in the right direction.
Rishi Suri is the chief editor at The Daily Milap, one of India’s oldest and largest Urdu newspapers.