Former union minister and BJP leader Dinesh Trivedi has been named India’s next envoy to Bangladesh as the two neighbours look to reset ties.
As a first political appointee in the neighbourhood after a long time, Trivedi will replace career diplomat Pranay Verma, who moves to Brussels as the Indian ambassador to the EU.
The appointment of Trivedi comes at a time when India and Bangladesh are trying to repair their relationship after the Mohammed Yunus disaster, post-removal of then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a coup, with both military and police refusing to open fire on the agitators.
Dinesh Trivedi is a former member of parliament from West Bengal’s Barrackpore. He also served as a union minister during the UPA era of Dr Manmohan Singh as a member of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), holding the minister of state for health and family welfare and then the railway ministry portfolio.
Trivedi is best known for resigning after the 2012 Railway Budget, in which he proposed a passenger fare hike to improve safety and modernise the railways. He was forced to resign by West Bengal chief minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee.
He served in the Lok Sabha from 2009 to 2019, representing Barrackpore on a TMC ticket. Before that, he was also a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1990 to 1996, 2002 to 2008 and then again from 2020 to 2021.
In March 2021, he resigned from his Rajya Sabha seat and the TMC to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Dinesh Trivedi holds a Bachelor's in Commerce (B.Com) degree from St. Xavier's College, Kolkata. He then pursued a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Texas at Austin, United States.
Apart from being a politician, Trivedi is also a trained pilot and previously ran his own air freight company. He was also an activist who played a crucial role in the Right to Information (RTI) movement by filing a Supreme Court petition to make the Vohra Report on the criminal-politician nexus public.
