News Analysis: Indian PM wraps up state visit leaving behind "thirsty Bangladesh"

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has wrapped up his two-day maiden state visit to neighbor Bangladesh and flew back to New Delhi by a special air force flight at 8:40 p.m. Sunday evening.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, high level ministers and top government officials were present at the VVIP lounge of Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to bid farewell to Modi with the Bangladesh Army performing an official salute.

Earlier in the afternoon, Modi met top political leaders including ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and held talks on a range of issues.

The Bangladeshi prime minister said that her meeting with her counterpart was highly fruitful although the key Teesta water sharing deal issue suffered a blow again due to Delhi's reluctance to sign the pact, which frustrated Bangladeshi people and sparked protests.

The visit saw a series of agreements and protocols including one for an enclave exchange.

During the visit, Dhaka and Delhi signed 22 agreements and MoUs for cooperation in areas of trade, investment, education, climate change and information and communication technology.

The landmark exchange of Instruments of Ratification of 1974 Land Boundary Agreement and its 2011 Protocol was also traversed.

Bangladesh and India inked the exchange of letters on modalities for implementation of the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement and its 2011 Protocol.

Following the exchange of Instruments of Ratification of 1974 Land Boundary Agreement and its 2011 Protocol, some 50 Bangladeshi enclaves inside India have been integrated within Bangladesh and about 100 Indian areas inside Bangladesh became a part of India.

The two neighboring countries also signed an MoU for extending a new line of credit to the tune of 2 billion U.S. dollars by Indian government to Bangladeshi government.

Apart from this, an MoU was signed on the blue economy and maritime cooperation in the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean, as well as on the use of Chittagong and Mongla ports.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit drew protesters in Dhaka.

Police on Saturday afternoon controlled a group of protesters on a road near Dhaka's National Press Club hours after the arrival of Modi who is still blamed for using inappropriate means to contain the 2002 Gujrat riots in which thousand of Muslims were killed.

A police officer told Xinhua that they detained four including a woman while protesters were trying to hold an anti-Modi demonstration near the National Press Club in Dhaka on Saturday evening.

Frustrated at no discussion on the river Teesta's water sharing idea, he said they were trying to stage a demonstration to draw attention to the issue.

Expectations are high that the long-standing understanding over sharing of Teesta waters would be reached during Modi's visit.

But Delhi a few days earlier made it clear that the Teesta issue would not be tabled for discussion during Modi's Bangladesh visit. "Water issues need to be resolved from a humanitarian perspective.I am confident we will be able to do so,"said Modi while addressing a Public Function at Bangabandhu International Conference Center in Dhaka.

Experts say Bangladeshi people are very unlikely to be convinced by Modi's words.

They say the government of India's West Bengal has diverted almost all of Teesta's water, leaving little for Bangladesh in recent years.

"Modi left behind a thirsty Bangladesh," said one source close to the matter, requesting anonymity.

"The visit without the Teesta deal is now a matter of deep disappointment for us."

Manmohan Singh's visit to Bangladesh and his official talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in September 2011 were also overshadowed by New Delhi's last-minute dramatic decision against signing the Teesta deal.

In a diplomatic flip-flop, Delhi in September 2011 also scrapped the draft of the proposed deal on sharing of the waters of the common river Teesta, a day ahead of the then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Bangladesh. Endi