India helped Bangladesh weave a success story. It'll now fight it out in Europe
India Today
India didn't just help Bangladesh in its 1971 Liberation War but supported it throughout its development journey. India helped Bangladesh build the ready-made garments sector, which helped pull millions out of poverty. Some say India sacrificed its own textiles industry for that. Now, that very sector will see competition from Indian exports, especially in the European markets.
India's role in Bangladesh's liberation in 1971 is well known. But New Delhi's support for the new nation emerging from the wreckage of Pakistani rule, extended beyond helping it gain independence. New Delhi stepped in almost immediately with humanitarian assistance, reconstruction support and diplomatic backing for the stabilisation of the new nation with over 80% of its population living in extreme poverty. After helping Bangladesh weave a success story and pull millions out of poverty through its textiles sector, India is all set to take the Battle of the Weaves to Europe.
The textiles sector in Bangladesh has been in the doldrums after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina regime in August 2024. The EU-India trade agreement, touted as the Mother of all Deals, is all set to be inked later this year. It will reduce tariffs on Indian garment exports in the European market, and help them compete with the Bangladeshi exports. But before delving into it, let's first have a look at how the Delhi-Dhaka partnership changed.
In the first six months of 1972 alone, India extended aid worth $220 million (equivalent to about $1.6 billion today), making it Bangladesh's single-largest donor at the time. But the sense of warmth that once defined ties between the two neighbours has clearly faded.
After the fall of Hasina's regime, Bangladesh drifted towards positions that hardened on-ground narratives and bilateral frictions with India. India expressed concerns over looser border controls and a rise in illegal crossings. This unease deepened as attacks on Hindu minorities and pro-India voices went largely unchecked. This reinforced the perception that the interim dispensation of Muhammad Yunus, who was reportedly brought in by an Islamist plot, was unwilling to confront forces hostile to India.
Dhaka rejected Indian security requests, while publicly distancing itself from the pro-India orientation of the Hasina years. Hasina's exile in India also did not go down well with the Yunus regime. Long-standing water disputes, particularly over the Teesta, have resurfaced. Bangladesh has tried to internationalise the issue, framing India as an obstructive nation. At the same time, anti-India narratives gained ground in politics and the media. Economic and strategic outreach to China and Pakistan has deepened much to India's displeasure.
Over the decades, India-Bangladesh ties matured into a dense web of economic, strategic and cultural cooperation. India has since extended billions in concessional lines of credit to Bangladesh, funding dozens of major infrastructure projects. Annual grants of Rs 200–300 crore in recent years further supported social and economic initiatives in Bangladesh. This was not a case of India having no expectations at all. New Delhi sought a civilisational partner and a peaceful eastern neighbourhood, coming from the memory of what it had witnessed during the BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami rule in Bangladesh from 2001 to 2006.
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