NEW DELHI, April 19 -- Former Union minister Dinesh Trivedi has been appointed India's High Commissioner to Bangladesh. The former MP from West Bengal's Barrackpore had joined the BJP in 2021 after leaving the Trinamool Congress. He has served as Railway Minister and Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare.
He is the first political appointee in the neighbouring country where a newly elected government, headed by Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) recently assumed office under the prime ministership of Tarique Rahman. Trivedi will replace career diplomat Pranay Verma, who moves to Brussels as the Indian envoy to the EU.
Trivedi, known as an astute politician with considerably long experience in governance and politics, as India's High Commissioner to Bangladesh marks a departure from the conventional postings that go only to Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officers.
His appointment indicates the BJP-led NDA government's desire and top priority to improve relations with Bangladesh which came under severe strain under the chief advisor Mohammed Yunus-headed interim government after the ouster of Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government.
Trivedi has his roots in West Bengal as well as wide and deep political connections that may come handy in engagements with political channels.
"Congratulations to Shri Dinesh Trivedi, senior BJP leader, former Union Minister and Barrackpore MP, for being appointed as India's High Commissioner to Bangladesh," BJP leader Amit Malviya said in a post on X.
Earlier this month, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman undertook his first visit to India after the new government came to power in Dhaka. He indicated New Delhi and Dhaka are not starting from scratch but from memory of a relationship shaped by shared rivers, shared borders, and the kind of cultural proximity that makes formal diplomacy feel almost redundant.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.