India has appointed veteran politician Dinesh Trivedi as its next high commissioner to Bangladesh. The appointment is a rare move of naming a non-foreign service officer for New Delhi’s efforts to reset ties with its eastern neighbor, which have been strained since 2024.
In 2024, popular uprising in Bangladesh forced Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to flee to India where she remains. Trivedi’s appointment highlights India’s push to rebuild trust with Bangladesh amid stiff competition from China for influence and business.
Trivedi, a 75-year-old former railways and health minister who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2021, is expected to take up his assignment shortly. The Ministry of External Affairs confirmed this on Tuesday.
Relations between India and Bangladesh began improving after Tarique Rahman’s election as Prime Minister in February. However, a key sticking point remains India’s refusal to extradite Hasina.