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On Thursday, Dinesh Trivedi, India’s newly appointed High Commissioner, who had presented his credentials to the Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin only hours earlier, made an announcement nearly two years in the making.

He said tourist visas for Bangladeshi citizens would resume. Applications will open on Sunday, processed across five centres in Dhaka, Rajshahi, Chittagong, Sylhet, and Khulna.

Urgent medical visas would continue uninterrupted, he added.

The announcement coincided with Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s state visit to Beijing, which served as a reminder of how badly Bangladesh-India relations had needed a confidence-building gesture.

Since August 2024, when India suspended tourist visa services following the political upheaval that led to the ouster of Sheikh Hasina, the dominant narrative surrounding Bangladesh-India relations has been one of growing estrangement.

Anti-India sentiment surged across Bangladesh, manifesting itself in street protests, media commentary and social media discourse.

It was fuelled by longstanding grievances over border killings by India’s Border Security Force and “push-ins” across the border of people India claimed were Bangladeshi.

Bangladeshis are also irate about misinformation about their country circulating in the Indian media, as well as by India’s decision to shelter Sheikh Hasina and numerous Awami League leaders.

Within Bangladesh, there has been a rise of Islamist hardliners and pro-Pakistani sentiment.

To many observers, this seemed to signal that Bangladesh had, at least emotionally, turned away from its largest neighbour.

That narrative...

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