India and Europe hope to strike the “mother of all deals” when EU chiefs meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi next week, as the two economic behemoths seek to forge closer ties.Facing challenges from China and the United States, India and the European Union have been negotiating a massive free trade pact — and talks, first launched about two decades ago, are nearing the finishing line.”We are on the cusp of a historic trade agreement,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said this week.Von der Leyen and European Council president Antonio Costa will attend Republic Day celebrations Monday before an EU-India summit Tuesday, where they hope to shake hands on the accord.Securing a pact described by India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal as “the mother of all deals”, would be a major win for Brussels and New Delhi as both seek to open up new markets in the face of US tariffs and Chinese export controls.But officials have been eager to stress there is more to it than commerce.”The EU and India are moving closer together at the time when the rules-based international order is under unprecedented pressure through wars, coercion and economic fragmentation,” the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas said Wednesday. – ‘Untapped potential’ -Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and US President Donald Trump’s punitive tariffs have brought momentum to the relationship between India and the EU, said Praveen Donthi, of the International Crisis Group think tank.”The EU eyes the Indian market and aims to steer a rising power like India away from Russia, while India seeks to diversify its partnerships, doubling down on its strategy of multi-alignment at a time when its relations with the US have taken a downward turn,” he said. The summit will offer Brussels the chance to turn the page after a bruising transatlantic crisis over Greenland — now seemingly defused.Together the EU and India account for about a quarter of the world’s population and GDP.Bilateral trade in goods reached 120 billion euros ($139 billion) in 2024, an increase of nearly 90 percent over the past decade, according to EU figures, with a further 60 billion euros ($69 billion) in trade in services.But both parties are eager to do more. “India still accounts for around only around 2.5 percent of total EU trade in goods, compared with close to 15 percent for China,” an EU official said, adding the figure gave a sense of the “untapped potential” an agreement could unlock.EU makers of cars, machinery and chemicals have much to gain from India lowering entry barriers, said Ignacio Garcia Bercero, an analyst at Brussels think tank Bruegel, who led EU trade talks with New Delhi over a decade ago.”India is one of the most heavily protected economies in the world, with very, very high tariffs, including on many products where the European Union has a competitive advantage,” he told AFP. Its economy in the doldrums, the 27-member EU is also pushing to ease exports of spirits and wines and strengthen intellectual property rules.India — the fastest‑growing major economy in the world — wants easier market access for products such as textiles and pharmaceuticals. – Defence pact -EU officials were tight-lipped about the deal’s contents as negotiations are ongoing.But agriculture, a sensitive topic in both India and Europe, is likely to play a limited role, with New Delhi eager to protect its dairy and grain sectors.Talks are focusing on a few sticking points, including the impact of the EU’s carbon border tax on steel exports and safety and quality standards in the pharmaceutical and automotive sectors, according to people familiar with the discussions. Still EU officials said they were confident negotiations could be concluded in time for the summit. An accord on mobility to facilitate movement for seasonal workers, students, researchers and highly skilled professionals, is also on the menu, alongside a security and defence pact.The latter envisages closer cooperation in areas including maritime security, cybersecurity and counter-terrorism, an EU official said. It is also a “precondition” for the possible joint production of military equipment, said a second EU official. New Delhi, which has relied on Moscow for decades for key military hardware, has tried to cut its dependence on Russia in recent years by diversifying imports and pushing its own domestic manufacturing base. Europe is doing the same vis-a-vis the US. “We’re ready to open a new chapter in EU-India relationships, and really to unlock what we think is the transformative potential of this partnership,” said another EU official. 

Bangladesh is preparing for the first election since the overthrow of Sheikh Hasina, but supporters of her banned Awami League (AL) are struggling to decide whether to shift their allegiance. In Gopalganj, south of the capital Dhaka and a strong bastion of Hasina’s iron-grip rule, residents are grappling with an election without the party that shaped their political lives for decades. “Sheikh Hasina may have done wrong — she and her friends and allies — but what did the millions of Awami League supporters do?” said tricycle delivery driver Mohammad Shahjahan Fakir, 68, adding that he would not vote.”Why won’t the ‘boat’ symbol be there on the ballot paper?” he said, referring to AL’s former election icon.The Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people will hold elections on February 12, its first since the uprising.Hasina, who crushed opposition parties during her rule, won landslide victories in Gopalganj in every election since 1991.After a failed attempt to cling to power and a brutal crackdown on protesters, she was ousted as prime minister in August 2024 and fled to India.She was sentenced to death in absentia for crimes against humanity by a court in Dhaka in November, and her former ruling party, once the country’s most popular, has been outlawed.Human Rights Watch has condemned the AL ban as “draconian”.”There’s so much confusion right now,” said Mohammad Shafayet Biswas, 46, a banana and betel leaf seller in Gopalganj.”A couple of candidates are running from this constituency — I don’t even know who they are.”As a crowd gathered in the district, one man shouted: “Who is going to the polling centres? We don’t even have our candidates this time.”- ‘Dehumanise’ -Hasina’s father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding president of Bangladesh, hailed from Gopalganj and is buried in the town.Statues of Rahman have been torn down nationwide, but in Gopalganj, murals and statues are well-maintained.Since Hasina’s downfall, clashes have broken out during campaigning by other parties, including one between police and AL supporters in July 2025, after which authorities filed more than 8,000 cases against residents.Sazzad Siddiqui, a professor at Dhaka University, believes voter turnout in Gopalganj could be the lowest in the country.”Many people here are still in denial that Sheikh Hasina did something very wrong,” said Siddiqui, who sat on a government commission formed after the 2025 unrest.”At the same time, the government has constantly tried to dehumanise them.”This time, frontrunners include candidates from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s largest Islamist party.Both are from Hasina’s arch-rivals, now eyeing power. “I am going door to door,” BNP candidate S.M Zilany, 57, told AFP, saying many would-be voters had never had a candidate canvass for their backing.”I promise them I will stand by them.” Zilany said he had run twice against Hasina — and was struck down by 34 legal cases he claimed had been politically motivated.This time, he said that there was “a campaign to discourage voters from turning up”.Jamaat candidate M.M Rezaul Karim, 53, said that under Hasina, the party had been driven underground.”People want a change in leadership,” Karim told AFP, saying he was open to all voters, whatever their previous loyalties.”We believe in coexistence; those involved in crimes should be punished; others must be spared,” Karim said. Those once loyal to Hasina appear disillusioned.Some say they had abandoned the AL, but remain unsure whom to support.”I am not going to vote,” said one woman, who asked not to be named.”Who should I vote for except Hasina? She is like a sister.”