Delhi proposes Bangladesh BJP leader Dinesh Trivedi as high commissioner in Dhaka

New Delhi: India has proposed the appointment of West Bengal BJP functionary Dinesh Trivedi as the next High Commissioner to Bangladesh. According to official sources, the political appointment is awaiting Dhaka’s approval, which is rare in the region. Trivedi (75) has served as a member of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on several occasions and has also served as Railway Minister and Health Minister. He left TMC in 2021 and joined the BJP. The appointment, if approved, would come at a sensitive time in the relationship as both sides work to reset ties. Following the former Prime Minister Sheikh HasinaAfter Brexit, relations between the two countries deteriorated and entered a period of severe tensions characterized by border disputes, trade restrictions and heated rhetoric. However, with the new BNP government taking office, relations began to stabilize, although differences remained over key issues such as Hasina’s continued presence in India and what Dhaka said were border killings by Indian security forces. Foreign Minister Khalil Rehman raised the Hasina issue during his recent “goodwill” visit to India. Trivedi’s appointment is significant as it will be India’s first political appointment of an ambassador or high commissioner in a neighboring country since the early 1990s. In 1991, India appointed Bimal Prasad, a professor at Jinan University, as its ambassador to Nepal. More recently, around the Indian Ocean, India appointed former Army Chief Dalbir Singh Suhag as High Commissioner to the Seychelles in 2019. There has been speculation for weeks that a political appointee from Dhaka would serve there as a state minister.