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India Bangladesh relations: At the beginning of the year, general elections were held in Bangladesh, in which Sheikh Hasina once again won. Since then the controversy started on this issue. The opposition alleged that the Awami League party won by suppressing and manipulating other parties. Now the question is how did the boycott of Indian products happen? Now what happened was that India congratulated Hasina after her victory, which angered the opposition. He alleged that Hasina's policies were in India's favor and hence India was a partner in her victory.
After two and a half months, PM Hasina broke her silence
Therefore, the opposition and some influential people in Bangladesh have launched the 'India Out' campaign in mid-January. In which he started appealing to the people of Bangladesh not to buy products made in India. This campaign is being led by Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). After about two and a half months, PM Hasina broke her silence on this incident and made a statement that created an uproar, she said, “How many Indian sarees do the wives of opposition leaders have? This will be proved only when they burn their wives' sarees in front of the party office.” They are boycotting products made in India.
This incident came to be known as Sari Diplomacy
According to a press report, PM Hasina also discussed the spices imported from India, but the issue of saree was raised more. There has been talk of Sari Diplomacy between India and Bangladesh earlier also. When the country's former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj went to Bangladesh for the first time with this post, PM Hasina herself was present to welcome her. After initial talks, Swaraj gifted her a Jamdani pattern saree. In return, Haseena also gave him a Jamdani saree. This later came to be known as Saree Diplomacy, a rival to India's Shawl Diplomacy.
special place of jamdani saree
Indian leaders often gift shawls to local and foreign leaders. PM Narendra Modi also gifted a shawl to former Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif, while Sharif gifted a saree to PM Modi's mother. But when we talk about India and Bangladesh, saree diplomacy is at a different level, especially the Jamdani saree. For West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, sarees often come from Bangladesh on the occasion of Durga Puja.
What is Jamdani Saree?
This tradition of Jamdani weaving is originally from Bengal. Its center is Narayanganj of Bangladesh. For a long time it was woven by mixing cotton and gold thread. Even now gold is used in very small quantities. Jamdani is also called Dhakai, the name of which is derived from Dhaka. This weaving is done by very skilled artisans. Before weaving they have an exact pattern in their mind of what they are going to make. It also creates geometric patterns or landscape designs.
Since these sarees are made of gold and intricate work, they take more time to make and this makes them very expensive. The price of these sarees is Rs. Can go up to more than Rs 10 thousand. In earlier times, only the royal family and very rich people used to wear these sarees. Nowadays, jamdani scarves are also made. Also, a few years ago UNESCO had declared this pattern as a cultural heritage.
tangle saree controversy
Sheikh Hasina usually wears Jamdani saree, but in February this year, she wore a tangle saree during a conference in Germany. He also gave information about this. She wore the Tangle Saree to promote the cultural heritage of Bangladesh globally. Even before this incident, West Bengal had already got GI tag for tangle sarees.
Like Bangladesh, West Bengal also claims its rights over these sarees manufactured in East Bardhaman and Nadia districts. In this regard, Bangladesh believes that India has done wrong to it by taking the GI tag. There was a huge uproar on Bangladeshi social media after the announcement of West Bengal getting GI tag. Then PM Hasina wore a tangle saree to show that the tangle was her first saree.
GI tag is given to those products which are from a particular place. Then a tag is given in his name so that no one else can use it. Bangladesh got the GI tag for Jamdani sarees only in 2016.
What does India export to Bangladesh?
India mainly exports spices, cotton, food grains, plastic products, sugar, electronic equipment, coffee, tea, mats, iron, steel, clothes, sarees etc. to Bangladesh. It procures high quality cloth from Bangladesh. Trade with India and Bangladesh has tripled in the last 9 years. Many Indian companies are doing business in Bangladesh. This conflict could further worsen relations and trade between the two countries. Bangladesh is causing its own loss by running anti-India campaign. If trade relations with India sour, Bangladesh's economy will be affected. If there is any problem in exports with India, Bangladesh will suffer losses.