Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar To Attend Khaleda Zia’s Funeral Ceremony

Foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar will attend the funeral of Begum Khaleda Zia, former Prime Minister of Bangladesh and chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Her funeral is scheduled for Wednesday. Begum Zia was the country’s first woman prime minister.

A few hours after her passing on Tuesday morning, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences on X.

The decision to send Jaishankar to Dhaka signals India’s hopes of repairing ties with Bangladesh that had ruptured following the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. She was a friend of India and her long rule was regarded as the golden era of India-Bangladesh relations. Analysts had criticised New Delhi for putting all its eggs in the Hasina basket and not cultivating the opposition.

But New Delhi has woken up to the reality that chances of the Awami League returning to power in the near future are dim. It is quite evident that the BNP will sweep the elections, more so now with sympathy votes weighing in for the February elections.

But much before the current crisis India had been engaging with the main opposition BNP from around 2018. It is rumoured that the home coming of Khaleda Zia’s son Tarique Rahman was finalised after talks with India. Concern for security is natural at a time when Bangladesh is being wracked by violence with the killing of Sharif Osman Hadi. This has not been confirmed by the MEA, though spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that New Delhi talks to all sections in Bangladesh.

India is now reaching out to the BNP. In fact, when Begum Zia was critically ill a few weeks ago, the Prime Minister had wished her a speedy recovery. That gesture was much appreciated by the party leadership.