Dinesh Trivedi, a former union minister, has been appointed as India's next High Commissioner toBangladesh. The appointment comes amid efforts by the two countries to repair frayed bilateral ties. Trivedi is expected to take up the assignment shortly, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a brief statement on Monday.
He will succeed Pranay Verma, who has been appointed as New Delhi's next ambassador to Belgium and the European Union (EU). Verma played a role in initiating the efforts to reset the ties after the new Bangladesh Nationalist Party government led by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman came to power in February.
Dinesh Trivedi is a veteran politician from West Bengal. The 75-year-old leader has held key portfolios as Railway Minister and Minister of State for Health during the UPA government.
Having represented the state in the Rajya Sabha and as the Lok Sabha MP for Barrackpore, he resigned from the Trinamool Congress in February 2021 and subsequently joined the BJP.
Trivedi holds an MBA degree from the University of Texas, Austin.
New Delhi's decision to nominate a politician rather than a career diplomat for Dhaka marks a departure from established practice. India has rarely proposed a politician for such a role in South Asia. The pick possibly signals the sensitivity and complexity of India-Bangladesh relations at the moment. Furthermore, New Delhi's decision to send a seasoned politician to Dhaka comes at a time when both sides are looking to rebuild relations that came under severe strain during the tenure of Bangladesh's interim government headed by Muhammad Yunus.
The relations between India and Bangladesh witnessed a major downturn after the Yunus-led interim government came to power following the collapse of the Sheikh Hasina government in August, 2024.
Earlier this month, Bangladesh's Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman visited India and held talks with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. The focus of the meetings was to bolster the bilateral ties including in areas of trade, energy and people-to-people exchanges.
The two sides initiated efforts to stabilise the relations after Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, accompanied by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, represented India at the inauguration of Tarique Rahman as the prime minister in Dhaka on February 17. Rahman became the prime minister following his party BNP's landslide victory in the parliamentary polls.
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