With the change of power in Bangladesh, positive steps are now being seen towards strengthening the relations between India and the neighboring country. India is preparing to start all visa services again in Bangladesh. Recently, Tariq Rehman from BNP party has taken over the post of Prime Minister. According to Bangladesh media BD News 24, India’s senior consul officer in Sylhet Aniruddha Das said that efforts are being made to completely restore all visa services.
Das told Sylhet District Press Club that medical and double entry visas are being issued. Steps are being taken to restart other categories including travel visas. Indian Assistant High Commissioner in Sylhet said that with the commencement of visa service, assurance has also been given to strengthen the relations between the two countries. He said that the relations between India and Bangladesh stand on the foundation of mutual respect and honor. He said that the people of both the countries will be the main stakeholders of a stable, positive, constructive, long-term mutually beneficial relationship. He said that both the countries have a similar vision and want to work together.
Why did relations between India and Bangladesh turn sour?
In fact, after the death of Sharif Usman Hadi in the year 2025, Indian Visa Centers had stopped their operations in Bangladesh when relations between the two countries deteriorated. There were continuous protests in Bangladesh after the death of student leader Usman Hadi. During this period the protest had taken an anti-India form. The reason for this was that after the protests in Bangladesh in the year 2024, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had resigned from the post. She had fled to India. On this, the Indian Visa Center official had said that whenever relations between the two countries deteriorate, or the security situation worsens, we have to close it.
Apart from this, Bangladesh had banned issuing visas for Indian citizens in January. Apart from these, its missions in Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai were also banned. During this period, all categories of visas were banned except business and employment related visas. After this, during the protest near Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi, visa service was banned for an indefinite period on 22 December.
