Sonia-Hasina bonhomie ahead of Teen Bigha access for Bangladesh

The Gandhi-Hasina family relations go back to the previous generation of Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Mujibur Rehman.

With the warmth between the two political families at play,a month after India gave “24-hour unfettered access” to Bangladesh nationals through the Teen Bigha corridor,New Delhi and Dhaka are working towards an official ceremony on October 8 — when Hasina will drive through the corridor and formally inaugurate the round-the-clock access to the corridor.

The Teen Bigha corridor is a strip of land belonging to India — equivalent to the size of a football field — on the West Bengal-Bangladesh border,which separates Bangladesh from one of its enclaves,Dahagram. Between 1971 and 1992,India did not allow access to Dahagram,but in 1992,a 12-hour access was granted to Bangladesh. During Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit on September 6 and 7,India opened the access for 24 hours.