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Why a politician, not a career diplomat, may be India’s next envoy to Dhaka
The thinking was that there was a need for a political appointee to take forward ties when the Indian side was seen as too closely aligned with the Awami League govt
The post of the Indian high commissioner in Bangladesh, once the preserve of doyens of the foreign service such as Subimal Dutt, Muchkund Dubey and Krishnan Srinivasan, is now expected to be filled by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former lawmaker Dinesh Trivedi.
Trivedi, who had stints in the Congress and Trinamool Congress (TMC), will be the first political appointee to hold the key post in Dhaka in many decades. Before this, the handful who could be considered political appointees included Subimal Dutt and Samar Sen, the first two officials to be given the post after the creation of Bangladesh in 1971, but even they belonged to the erstwhile Indian Civil Service (ICS).
For the Indian Foreign Service, a stint in Dhaka as the envoy often led to greater things, with several high commissioners going on to become foreign secretary. The latest in this line was Harsh Vardhan Shringla, who became foreign secretary shortly after serving as the envoy in Bangladesh during 2016-2019.
Trivedi will also be the first political appointee to serve as an envoy in the neighbourhood in about three decades, though Nepal and Sri Lanka have seen a string of politicians and ICS officers occupying the post of envoy. In the case of Sri Lanka, the post of high commissioner was filled by a succession of politicians and ICS officers between 1947 and 1969.
Among the political appointees sent to Kathmandu as ambassador was Lt Gen SK Sinha, a former vice chief of the army who played a key role in repairing bilateral relations in 1990 after ties hit a low over differences on trade and transit issues.
In past decades, ambassadorial appointments were sometimes given as a sop to political leaders of parties after they performed poorly in local elections, or to senior military or police officers after long, distinguished careers.
After initially considering a senior diplomat for the position in Dhaka towards the end of 2025, the government did a rethink following the Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s victory in the general election in February, people familiar with the matter said. The thinking in New Delhi, the people said, was that some diplomats had misread the situation in Bangladesh and there was a need for a political appointee to take forward ties after a period when the Indian side was seen as too closely aligned with the previous Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina.
The Indian government began last week the formal process of seeking an agrément, or diplomatic agreement, for the posting of Trivedi, the people said. The assembly elections in West Bengal – Trivedi hails from the state bordering Bangladesh – was another factor that reportedly went in his favour.
India currently has only two political appointees serving as ambassadors – former foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra was made the ambassador to the US after his retirement, while former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Arun Goel was sent as the envoy to Croatia after a long bureaucratic career that included stints as the secretary in the ministry of heavy industries and the ministry of culture.
The BJP government has also sent former Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) chief RK Raghavan as the envoy to Cyprus and former army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag as the envoy to Seychelles.
