In a rare diplomatic engagement between Bangladesh and West Bengal’s top leadership, the High Commissioner of Bangladesh to India, Md. Riaz Hamidullah, is scheduled to meet West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata on Monday, June 23. The visit marks the first such interaction in nearly a decade and comes at a time of significant political transition in Bangladesh.
Confirming the visit, the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata stated that the meeting will be a courtesy call rather than an official diplomatic negotiation. The High Commissioner is set to arrive in Kolkata on the evening of Sunday, June 22. He will hold internal discussions with mission officials on Monday morning before proceeding to the state secretariat, Nabanna, for his meeting with Mamata Banerjee later in the day.
This is Riaz Hamidullah’s first visit to West Bengal since assuming his role as Bangladesh’s envoy in New Delhi on January 23, 2025. His arrival in Kolkata comes just 45 days before the one-year mark of the ousting of the Awami League government in Bangladesh, following a student-led mass uprising that led former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to flee the country on August 5, 2024.
Sources within Nabanna have indicated that a number of sensitive issues may come up during the meeting, including the recent attack on Rabindranath Tagore’s ancestral home in Sirajganj, the evolving situation along the Bangladesh-India border, and broader bilateral cooperation between the two Bengals. Additionally, it is anticipated that the Chief Advisor of Bangladesh’s interim government, Yunus Sarkar, may extend a formal invitation to Mamata Banerjee to visit Dhaka in the near future.
On Tuesday, June 24, the High Commissioner is also expected to hold a private meeting with Jawhar Sircar, former CEO of Prasar Bharati and a former Rajya Sabha MP from the Trinamool Congress. Their discussion is likely to center on political and cultural topics, reflecting the shared heritage and deep-rooted ties between Bangladesh and West Bengal.
It remains unconfirmed whether the High Commissioner will meet the Governor of West Bengal during this trip.
This visit is particularly notable because it will be the first time since 2016 that a Bangladeshi High Commissioner has met with the West Bengal Chief Minister. The last such meeting occurred when then-High Commissioner Syed Moazzem Ali called on Mamata Banerjee. Since then, high-level diplomatic interactions between Dhaka and Kolkata have been conspicuously absent, making this engagement a potential turning point in cross-border relations at the subnational level.