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Indians trust Bangladeshis most

Bangladesh ranks the highest among the countries Indian voters trust while Pakistan ranks the lowest, according an opinion poll jointly conducted by CNN-IBN TV channel and The Hindu newspaper.

When asked which countries should India either trust a “great deal” or “somewhat”, 48 percent chose Bangladesh while 46 percent picked Russia.

Explaining the high trust in Bangladesh, India’s former High Commissioner to Bangladesh Deb Mukharji was quoted by The Hindu as saying, “I think this is largely to do with developments in the past five years where Bangladesh has addressed our security concerns very comprehensively whereas in previous regimes, troublemakers were given support”.

He said public attitudes often do not take history into account but rather go by “immediate impression and recent past”.

He added: “I am speculating that this could also be a result of a sense of guilt because India has not delivered what India should have delivered on and reciprocated, be it on Teesta waters or the land boundary agreement.”

There is also a growing recognition that Bangladesh has performed well on social indicators.

In their recent book “An Uncertain Glory” economists Amartya Sen, winner of Nobel Prize, and Jean Dreze have noted that India has a lot to learn from Bangladesh in human development index.

The poll says 54 percent of the respondents feel India should have “no trust at all” in Pakistan while only 14 percent say there should be a “great deal” of trust or some trust.

Thirty three percent of respondents of the poll say India should have trust in China while 31 percent believes there should be “no trust at all “in Beijing.

Source - The Daily Star