Indians trust Bangladesh the most compared to any other country, according to a recent opinion poll, jointly commissioned by CNN-IBN and The Hindu, a top Indian news TV channel and leading English national daily respectively.
The poll, conducted by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, has revealed that when asked which countries India should either trust a “great deal” or “somewhat,” 48% chose Bangladesh while 46% picked Russia.
Explaining the high trust in Bangladesh, The Hindu quoted India’s former high commissioner to Bangladesh Deb Mukharji as saying: “I think this is largely to do with developments in the past five years, where Bangladesh has addressed our security concerns very comprehensively whereas in previous regimes, troublemakers were given support.”
He further said: “I am speculating that this could also be a result of a sense of guilt, because India has not delivered what India should have delivered on and reciprocated, be it on Teesta waters or the land boundary agreement.”
According to different reports, there is also a growing recognition among the Indians that Bangladesh has performed well on social indicators.
In their recent book, “An Uncertain Glory,” Nobel-winning economist Amartya Sen and Jean Dreze have noted that India has a lot to learn from Bangladesh regarding the human development index.
Russia ranks a close second with 46% among partners India should have trust in while 54% of the respondents said India should have “no trust at all” in Pakistan, while only 14% said there should be a “great deal” of trust in the country.
The poll shows mixed feelings about China. Some 31% of the respondents say India should have trust in China while 31% believes there should be “no trust at all” in Beijing.
