India’s water politics has once again come under scrutiny following the remarks of Nishikant Dubey, a Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament, who on May 30 publicly criticized the India–Bangladesh memorandum of understanding on water sharing. Speaking in Parliament, Dubey alleged that “Farmers in Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh are committing suicide without water; silt has accumulated in the Ganga, but the water goes to Bangladesh? The Teesta River is the lifeline of Sikkim–we could generate electricity and irrigation, but the water goes to Bangladesh? The Brahmaputra is the lifeline of Assam and Bengal, but the water goes to Bangladesh?”. His statement reflects a growing nationalist discourse in India, where transboundary agreements are increasingly framed as concessions that weaken domestic priorities. While such rhetoric may resonate with constituencies in Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal, it obscures the realities faced by downstream countries like Bangladesh, which already receives a minimal share of water due to its geographical position.

The controversy comes at a critical juncture. The Ganges Treaty, signed in 1996 for thirty years, is set to expire in December 2026. That the agreement was hailed as a landmark in South Asian hydrodiplomacy provided Bangladesh with guaranteed dry-season flows at the Farakka Barrage. Yet even under the treaty, Bangladesh has struggled with ecological degradation and economic hardship. It is evident that reduced flows have contributed to riverbank erosion, salinity intrusion in coastal areas, and declining agricultural productivity. Farmers in northern Bangladesh complain of shrinking irrigation supplies, while the Sundarbans mangrove ecosystem has suffered biodiversity loss due to rising salinity levels. These impacts translate into displacement, rural poverty, and mounting pressure on urban centers as communities migrate in search of livelihoods.

India’s increasingly assertive stance on water sharing reflects a hegemonic approach to regional resources, which is completely against India’s own foreign policy, that is, the neighbourhood first policy. By consolidating control over shared rivers, New Delhi signals that domestic political imperatives outweigh cooperative arrangements. Dubey’s........

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