India has taken the lead in inviting Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to attend the outreach session of the upcoming BRICS summit in New Delhi on 12–13 September. Any pragmatic leader would have grabbed this opportunity and used the visit to strengthen bilateral ties to the best advantage of his country. It is unfortunate that the Bangladesh prime minister is hesitant to reciprocate India’s invitation to visit New Delhi, probably on the advice of advisers whose domestic and foreign policies are rooted in building an anti-India narrative.
The anti-India stance will surely help Rahman consolidate his hold over politics in a country reeling under economic stress and simmering discontent over unemployment, rising prices and a deteriorating law-and-order situation. The prime minister, whose experience in governance seems to be poor, probably hopes to address these challenges by supporting Islamic radicalism and anti-India sentiments.Tarique Rahman was groomed to head the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in 2001 and set up his office in Hawa Bhaban. It was Rahman who oversaw the formation of a coalition between the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, the party that had violently opposed Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan.
