Cultural and social relations between India & Bangladesh?

Question

Cultural and social relations between India & Bangladesh?

Answer 1

I have found the following from Wikipedia. The article has been biased toward India, presumably the work of any Indian to malign Bangladesh, which has been edited' below for the reason of accuracy of facts:

The present-day nations of India and Bangladesh are part of the Indian sub-continent and have had a long common cultural, economic and political history. The people of the two countries are indistinguishable to most outsiders. The cultures of the two countries are similar; in particular India's West Bengal state and Bangladesh are both Bengali speaking.

India and Bangladesh have a complex relationship which is explained below.

Historical background:

During the Partition of India after independence in 1947, the Bengal region was divided into two: East Bengal (present-day Bangladesh) and West Bengal. East Pakistan was made a part of Pakistan due to the fact that both regions had an overwhelmingly large Muslim population, more than 85%. In 1955, the government of Pakistan changed its name from East Bengal to East Pakistan.

There were some confrontations between the two regions of Pakistan, though. Firstly, in 1948, Jinnah declared that only Urdu would the official language of the entire nation while more than 95% of the population spoke Bengali. And when protests broke out in Bangladesh on February 21, 1952, Pakistani police shot dead the protesters, killing hundreds. Secondly, East Pakistan was given a step-motherly treatment and only a small amount of revenue was given for the development of the region. Therefore, a separatist movement started to grow in Bangladesh. When in 1970 elections, the main separatist party the Awami League, headed by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman won 167 of the 169 seats and got the right to form the government in the centre, the Pakistan president General Yahya Khan refused to recognize the elections and on the other hand, arrested Sk. Mujib on 25th March 1971, and the Pakistani military started attacking unarmed civilian population of East Pakistan. This led to widespread protests in Bangladesh and in 1971, the Liberation War in Bangladesh started.

India under Indira Gandhi fully supported the cause of the Bangladesh and its troops and equipment were used to fight the Pakistani forces. It also gave full support to the main Bangladeshi guerilla force, the Mukti Bahini. Finally, on 16th December 1971, Bangladesh got its victory and emerged as an independent state. Since then, there have been several issues of agreement as well as of dispute.

Areas of Contention:

1. A major bone of contention has been the construction of the Farakka Barrage by India to increase water supply in the river Hoogly. Bangladesh insists that it does not receive a fair share of the Ganga waters, and on the other hand, it gets flooded in the monsoons when India releases excess.

2. On 15th August1975, the creator of Bangladesh, Sk. Mujibur Rahman was assassinated and after much upheaval by the renegade Army officers' coup and counter-coup, General Zia-Ur-Rahman was installed as a result of Sepoy-Public 'mutiny' of 7th November 1975. India lost its staunchest supporter in Awami League (AL) with the demise of Sk. Mujib and the newly created Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by General Zia was trying to follow independent foreign policy, which alienated India.

3. There have also been disputes regarding the transfer of many 'Chhit Mahal' like Teen Bigha to Bangladesh as per Mujib-Indira Treaty signed in 1973. Bangladesh dutifully handed over India’s 'Chhit Mahal' to India but Bangladeshi 'Chhit Mahal' inside India were never returned to Bangladesh. However, after much persuasion the Tin Bigha Corridor was formally transferred to Bangladesh on 26 June, 1992 with a lot of restriction for the Bangladeshi citizen to come visit their mainland, even for treatment and voting purpose.

4. A major issue which continues to be a major part of Indian politics is to pressurize Bangladesh in accepting its half-true issue of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in India, especially in places like Bengal, Assam and Tripura.

So, in a way the Indian politicians leaning towards Hinduism have been playing with Bangladesh as a proxy to achieve their political goal. Though the Indian spy organization RAW has infiltrated in every conceivable section and sectors of Bangladesh, the Indians are crying wolf to divert the attention from RAW, saying that Pakistani spy organization ISI is helping with Islamisation of Bangladesh and also acting against the interest of India. Whenever there is a bomb blast of train accident etc., the Indian politicians will try to make Bangladesh and ISI as scapegoat.

These are the major impediments those are hampering good neighborly relations between India & Bangladesh. We do hope that Congress under the leadership of Manmohan Singh & Sonia Gandhi would view Bangladesh as very different country than Pakistan and change their mindset to help Bangladesh stand on its own feet. This would definitely have positive impact on the psyche of Bangladeshi common people and relationship would definitely improve between these two secular countries.

Answer 2

Cultural and social relations between India & Bangladesh is two way traffic, both are culturally and socially so closed that some time it becomes impossible to make a difference. I think as a big brother India has to do a lot and it has to treat Bangladesh as a good neighbour and feel the pain of draught and flood. Culture and social relationships knows no bound and boundary line. Let us pray for the best.

Answer 3

Um, yes?  Did I get it right?