In the wake of the BJP’s victory in the West Bengal Assembly election, Bangladesh has issued an urgent call to consider the long-pending Teesta water sharing agreement under the “current circumstances.” Outgoing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has long been seen as a hurdle in efforts to resolve the Teesta waters dispute between India and Bangladesh.
In Dhaka’s first-high level response to the poll results in West Bengal, Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman on Tuesday (May 5, 2026) reiterated Bangladesh’s demand for a greater share of the Teesta’s waters. In case of any further “push in” from the Indian side, he said, Bangladesh will take “whatever measures are necessary”.
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“Look, a government has not yet been formed in West Bengal, and what they think or what they will do is for them to say. It is not my job to read their minds,” Mr. Rahman said, in response to a question from the media about his stance on Ms. Banerjee’s ouster.
India and Bangladesh had reached an in-principle agreement to seal the deal on the Teesta’s waters in 2011 during the Manmohan Singh-era, but the matter remained unresolved for multiple reasons including an alleged lack of coordination between the Central government and the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal led by Ms. Banerjee. Referring to the 2011 agreement, Mr. Rahman said, “We hope that the agreement reached at that time can be ‘considered’ again under the current circumstances.”
