West Bengal BJP leader Dinesh Trivedi expected to be new Indian envoy to Bangladesh

Former Union Minister and a leading figure of the Bharatiya Janata Party in West Bengal, Dinesh Trivedi, is expected to be the next Indian envoy to Bangladesh, highly placed sources have confirmed. India’s relation with Bangladesh hit a difficult phase with the overthrow of the Awami League government in August 2024 and attempts are currently on to engage the government of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman who led the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) to a resounding victory in the February 12 election. Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman visited here during April 8-10 and there are indications that more high-level visits will take place soon.

The current Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Pranay Verma, will be India’s new envoy to Belgium and the European Union and an announcement to that effect was made on April 10 by the Ministry of External Affairs, escalating the search for his replacement in Dhaka. Diplomatic sources have told The Hindu that an agreement, a diplomatic document that confirms appointment of a new envoy, has been sent by India to Bangladesh and Dhaka is currently completing the necessary process before Mr. Trivedi takes charge of the Indian High Commission. The timing of the appointment is crucial as Bangladesh’s new government needs support to deal with the acute energy crisis that has erupted in the country because of the U.S.-Israel war on Iran and the Iranian chokehold of the Strait of Hormuz.

Over the past several weeks, there were speculations in the corridors of South Block about who would be the next Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka, one of the most important Indian missions. Bangladesh’s importance in India’s regional diplomacy is also because of the fact that Bangladesh is among the top trading partners of India and in the recent past lack of normal visa processes has been hurting commercial ties between the two sides. During Mr. Rahman’s India visit, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had announced that business visa services, irregular since the fall of Ms. Hasina, would be normalised.