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

Dinesh Trivedi, former Union Minister and a leading figure of the Bharatiya Janata Party in West Bengal, is expected to be the next Indian ambassador in Bangladesh, senior sources confirmed. India’s relationship with Bangladesh entered a difficult phase with the ouster of the Awami League government in August 2024, and attempts to engage Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s government, which has now led the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) to a landslide victory in the February 12 elections, continue. Bangladesh Foreign Minister Halilur Rahman visited here from April 8-10, and there are signs that more high-level visits will take place soon.

The current Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Pranay Verma, will be India’s new ambassador to Belgium and the European Union, and the search for his replacement in Dhaka has been stepped up, with an announcement to this effect made by the Ministry of External Affairs on April 10. Diplomatic sources said Hindu He said the agreement, a diplomatic document confirming the appointment of a new envoy, had been sent by India to Bangladesh and the necessary process was now completed before Mr. Trivedi took charge of the Indian High Commission. The timing of the appointment is vital as Bangladesh’s new government needs support to deal with the acute energy crisis that has erupted in the country due to the US-Israeli war on Iran and Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz.

For the last few weeks, speculations have been rife in the corridors of South Block as to who will be the next Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka, one of India’s most important missions. Bangladesh’s importance in India’s regional diplomacy is also due to the fact that Bangladesh is among India’s largest trading partners and the lack of normal visa processes in the recent past has damaged trade ties between the two sides. During Mr. Rahman’s visit to India, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had announced that business visa services, which have been irregular since Ms. Hasina’s ouster, would be normalized.