Women all the way

It seems women power will define the India-Bangladesh relations this time.

India’s foreign secretary Sujatha Singh and joint secretary in charge of Bangladesh desk Sripriya Ranganathan will accompany Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj making the Indian team an all-women show.

Swaraj will arrive in Dhaka on June 25 night by a special flight in her first “stand-alone” visit to any country being foreign minister.

She will meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and leader of the opposition Raushon Ershad –both women.

BNP is also expecting that she will meet its chairperson Khaleda Zia, another top woman leader.

Announcing Swaraj visit, India says the visit will provide “further momentum to the close and friendly relationship between India and Bangladesh”.

Swaraj has been BJP's leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha during the past five years and her superb performance in parliament debates made her the most popular woman leader of the BJP.

She is the first female foreign minister of the world’s largest democracy and her ability to speak several languages including Bengali makes her a big draw.

India's current foreign secretary Sujatha Singh is the third woman to hold the position.

Bangladesh’s politics have long been dominated by the two women –Hasina and Khaleda.

Swaraj was minister for information and broadcasting in the first Vaypayee government .

In 2002 she personally invited Sheikh Hasina who was then opposition leader to her Delhi home.

Dhaka also expects her visit would open “a new era” of relations.

Officials at the foreign ministry said during her visit both sides would discuss the next plan of actions of the relations.

After the new government came to power in Delhi there had been lot of scepticism about India-Bangladesh relations which was described “at its best” in history in the last five years during Hasina-Manmohan regime.

But Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Pankaj Saran has made it clear that nothing will change as the current Narendra Modi government is committed to building and maintaining the momentum of the relations.

He also said that the approach would “largely focus on problem solving”.

Foreign Minister Swaraj has also called her diplomats in neighbouring countries including Bangladesh to a meeting in New Delhi on Monday and briefed them to expand engagement with “concrete action plan”.