India’s foreign secretary Vikram Misri was in Bangladesh on Monday for bilateral talks with his counterpart Mohammad Jashim Uddin. Misri’s visit is the first tentative step to repair frayed relations between the two South Asian neighbours.

The visit gave both sides an opportunity to frankly discuss each other’s concerns. Since Sheikh Hasina had to flee the country after a bloodless people’s revolution led by the students' revolution, India-Bangladesh ties took a huge hit. Whether Monday’s frank exchange has cleared the air remains to be seen.

Misri went with a positive message. "I emphasized that India desires a positive, constructive, and mutually beneficial relationship with Bangladesh", India’s foreign secretary said in a press statement after the talks. He also called on Nobel Laureate and chief interim adviser Muhammad Yunus.

At the same time, he did not flinch from flagging India’s concerns, pointing out, "We also discussed some regrettable incidents of attacks on cultural, religious, and diplomatic properties. We expect, overall, a constructive approach on all these issues by the Bangladesh authorities, and we look forward to moving the relationship forward in a positive, forward-looking, and constructive direction."

Rebutting Misri, the Bangladesh foreign secretary Jashim Uddin retorted, "We said people of all religions in Bangladesh freely practice their faiths. This is our internal affair. It is not expected [of other countries] to make comments on our internal affairs. We don't do it for other countries."

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India is regarded by the Bangladesh opposition as well as those opposed to Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League, as her greatest enabler. Someone who enjoyed New Delhi’s iron-clad support. In the past, the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) often called her "Delhi’s stooge". Some of the anger against Sheikh Hasina was also transferred to the Indian government.

Soon after the August 5 people’s revolution, there were incidents of attacks on both symbols of the Awami League, including desecration of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s statute, Hindu temples, and damage to an idol in the ISKON temple. Incidents of attacks on Hindus and small businesses belonging to minorities were also reported from across the country.

This was mainly before the interim government was sworn in. There were also reports of students who led the movement coming together to protect Hindu neighbourhoods. In the general melee, after Hasina was deposed, symbols of the Awami League were also attacked. Hasina’s home was swarmed by the public.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his concern and called for the protection of Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh. The situation improved once the interim government was sworn in. But the anti-India mood lingered on.  

With volatile South Asians on both sides of the border, incidents kept cropping up. The arrest of a Bangladeshi Hindu priest Chinmoy Krishna Das on a sedition charge has not been received well by the Indian public. MEA spokesman Randhir Jaiswal hoped that Das would get a just, fair and transparent trial.

Protests at the treatment of Hindus were also staged in many cities and towns across India. In one such protest in Agartala, the capital of Tripura state that adjoins Bangladesh, demonstrators breached security and entered the building. Dhaka lodged a strong protest and India expressed regret and placed additional security.

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These incidents have helped to muddy the waters and the fact that Sheikh Hasina is now living in Delhi has angered public sentiments in Bangladesh. There have been demands for her to be handed back to face trial.

However, India and Bangladesh as close neighbours with huge economic interests cannot remain in perpetual angry mode. The situation has to become normal. Vikram Misri’s visit is an attempt to do just that. The foreign secretary emphasized the close people-to-people ties between the two countries.

"We have always seen in the past and we continue to see in the future this relationship as a people-centric and people-oriented relationship; one that has the benefit of all the people as its central motivational force’’, Misri said.

Misri also added, "This is reflected on a daily basis in the development projects that have been executed on the ground in Bangladesh and that continue to be developed. It is also reflected in the mutually beneficial engagement we have on a whole set of issues ranging from trade, commerce, connectivity, power, water and energy, development cooperation, consular cooperation, and cultural cooperation.’’

Misri has made his pitch for normalizing ties. Whether this finally happens has to be watched.