How can you have ‘people-to-people ties’ when visa restrictions continue?

Meer Raihan Masud, a passionate traveller, made two trips to India after the dramatic political shift in Bangladesh on 5 August last year, when Sheikh Hasina's government was ousted. One of those visits took him to Delhi in October.

Interestingly, even though Hasina had taken refuge in the Indian capital, most locals seemed unaware of what exactly was happening just across the border.

"From rickshaw pullers to shopkeepers, everyone kept asking me what was really going on in Bangladesh," Masud shared. He explained to them that a major political change had taken place—and, as is often the case with such transitions, people from all walks of life, from hardliners to secular thinkers, now felt a renewed sense of ownership in shaping the future of the country.

"This way, we were able to communicate more clearly with the people than the Indian mainstream media, which was often reporting based on perception and rumours," he added.

Then when he travelled to Kolkata in December, Masud found it even easier to connect with the locals there, as Bangladesh and West Bengal share a common language and cultural ties. 

"What I noticed was that even Indian people don't entirely trust their populist media narratives. Many have friends and relatives in Bangladesh, so they are aware of what's really happening—who is being attacked and who isn't," he said.

"We shared our perspective too, saying, 'Yes, there were some attacks on minorities after 5 August, but not on the scale portrayed by your media.' They listened and responded with trust and understanding," Masud added.

But the thing is, Masud was able to travel to India twice after 5 August only because he had secured an Indian tourist visa before the regime change in Bangladesh. 

According to reports in Indian media, the Indian High Commission in Bangladesh used to issue nearly 8,000 visas per day before the regime change. By early March this year, that number dwindled to around 1,000 daily, most of which were medical visas.

Naturally, as a result, the number of Bangladeshi visitors to India has dropped considerably over the past four months, as most of their pre-existing visas have now expired. Since then, tensions between the general populations of the two countries have also grown by leaps and bounds.

Mohammad Faruque, a primary school teacher, travelled to Kolkata with his wife for medical treatment and found the behaviour of the locals surprisingly unfriendly.

"I have been to India several times before, but this was the first time I felt such coldness from the people. They seem to have developed a very negative perception of Bangladesh from their media, and now they almost hate us—viewing us as infiltrators," Faruque lamented.

The situation isn't very different on this side of the border either. Somnath Saha, a physician from Howrah, recently travelled to Khulna to attend a relative's wedding. But at the Benapole border, he noticed a distinct lack of the usual Bangladeshi hospitality.

"The border was nearly deserted, with hardly anyone crossing from Bangladesh into India. The local traders seemed visibly frustrated when they realised I was Indian. They told me, 'Please ask your government to resume issuing visas to Bangladeshis. Otherwise, traders on both sides of the border will be left starving,'" Saha recalled.

This way, even though Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reportedly told Chief Adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus that India does not support any particular party in Bangladesh and that their "relationship is people-to-people," it is ironically this very people-to-people tie that is rapidly deteriorating amid India's undeclared visa restrictions on Bangladeshi citizens.

In a further setback to the bilateral relationship between the two countries, India announced on 9 April that it had revoked the transshipment facility for Bangladesh's export cargo passing through Indian land borders to airports and ports for third-country destinations. 

Dr Ala Uddin, professor of Anthropology at Chittagong University, views the visa restrictions as a clear indication of strained relations between the two countries—an issue unlikely to be resolved in the near future.

"When one country imposes visa restrictions on its neighbour, it's a clear sign that the relationship is not in a good place," Dr Ala Uddin said. "The official statements released by Bangladesh and India following the Modi-Yunus meeting were completely different, making it hard to determine whether the meeting was actually fruitful. But at the very least, they could have addressed the visa issue if they were truly committed to strengthening the people-to-people relationship."

He went on to explain that Bangladesh and India share deep historical ties and familial connections across the border. Business communities in both countries are interdependent, and sectors like cultural and educational exchange—as well as Bangladesh's reliance on India for medical tourism—make their relationship particularly significant.

"In such a context, the visa restrictions are not only inhumane but also completely unbecoming of a neighbouring country," Dr Ala Uddin said. "If this continues, it will damage the people-to-people bond between the two nations—something far more detrimental than any political or diplomatic dispute."

"Bangladesh being the eighth largest country in terms of population makes it a highly lucrative market for any industrial house in the world, and more so for Indian businesses as overland business makes transport cost much less."

Kallol Bhattacharjee, Senior Assistant Editor at The Hindu

Kallol Bhattacharjee, a prominent Indian author and Senior Assistant Editor at The Hindu, who specialises in India's foreign policy and South Asian affairs, believes that lifting the undeclared visa restrictions on Bangladeshi citizens and businesspeople is, in fact, in India's best interest.

He explained that the United States is increasingly shutting its doors to Indian exports, a move most evident in the new tariff restrictions that were supposed to take effect from 9 April.

However, on the same day, US President Donald Trump disclosed that 75 countries had sought negotiations over the tariffs. In response, he announced a 90-day pause and implemented a substantially reduced reciprocal tariff of 10%, effective immediately—excluding China from this relief.

That said, once the US-imposed tariffs—up to 27% in India's case—will eventually come into effect, there will likely be a temporary halt in Indian exports to the US, as producers and industrial units suspend shipments in response to the steep tariff barrier. In such a scenario, Indian exporters and manufacturers will be compelled to seek out new markets, stated Bhattacherjee.

"Bangladesh, which is the eighth largest country in terms of population, is a highly lucrative market for any industrial house in the world, and more so for Indian businesses as overland business makes transport cost much less. While it is true that not all items that Indians produce for the US can be exported to Bangladesh, the Indian businesses can certainly explore the Bangladesh market more intensely in such a situation," he said. 

According to him, the rising tariffs in the US are opening up new opportunities for countries like India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand to strengthen regional trade ties. In this scenario, easing visa restrictions for Bangladeshi citizens wouldn't just benefit Bangladesh—it would also be a big win for Indian businesses struggling with increasing trade hurdles in Western markets.

"Visa restrictions are a bad idea even in normal times," Bhattacharjee said. "But now, with the US imposing unusually high tariffs, they're hurting India even more. If we're serious about protecting India's economic interests, these restrictions need to go—sooner rather than later."

He also pointed out that the first to benefit from relaxed visa rules would be Bangladeshi medical tourists. They bring significant financial value to Indian hospitals and healthcare professionals, and lifting the restrictions could give the sector a major boost. 

He also slammed the media propaganda, especially through a few "high decibel TV channels in India," as irrational and said they do great harm not only to people-to-people ties but also to the economic rationale of the bilateral relationship. 

"People-to-people ties are not just an emotional factor in the area of diplomacy and cross border trade, it actually translates into market, profit and economic welfare. No modern policymaker can remain blind to the positive economic impacts that people-to-people relations generate," Bhattacharjee concluded.