However, whether this warm relationship has actually influenced diplomatic ties and is likely to change under new Indian President Ramnath Kobind is more difficult to answer.
Veteran diplomat Deb Mukherjee, Delhi's former High Commissioner in Dhaka, once said: “To be honest, personal relationships definitely have an impact [on diplomatic relations]. It adds warmth to the diplomatic atmosphere. But at the end of the day, personal relationships can never be the defining principle in diplomatic relationships. This means that no matter how close the premiers of two countries are, it has no bearing on diplomatic relations between the two.”
The fact that the Teesta Water-Sharing Agreement remains unsigned is a testament to Deb Mukherjee’s words.
Outgoing Indian president Pranab Mukherjee waves after inspecting a guard of honour during a ceremony at the Presidential Palace in New Delhi on July 25, 2017.AFPSuggesting that progress in such agreements may have stalled in spite of the president’s intentions, grassroots West Bengal MP Mamtaz Sanghamita, a member of the Indian Foreign Ministry's Parliamentary Standing Committee, told the Bangla Tribune: “You have to keep in mind that while Mr Mukherjee was president, the ruling party in Delhi was such that he had no hand in their foreign policy. The president has little say in the foreign policy of the country, let alone during a government with which he does not always agree!” “There is no way to deny that when the two Bengali communities from across the border meet, there is a Bengali sentiment between them. Mr Mukherjee's wife was from Norail. And since the time he began engaging in congressional politics, he had family ties with Sheikh Hasina. It is not easy to ignore these facts,” she added. However, these same ties which led to a close relationship between the outgoing Indian president and current Bangladesh government also had an inverse effect on his relationship with opposition party BNP. BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia notably did not meet with Pranab Mukherjee during his state visit to Bangladesh, citing hartals in Dhaka. As such, while Pranab Mukherjee’s tenure as president did see a particularly warm relationship between Bangladesh and India, this did not really translate itself into results in the diplomatic arena. The outgoing Indian president still has his critics in Bangladesh, and with Teesta remaining a longstanding sticking point in negotiations between both sides, they are not entirely without merit.
