Jamdani politics: How Indo-Bangla tension is making life difficult for artisans

Barun Das name changed has been going to Kolkata from his home in Bangladeshrsquos Narayanganj District a major textile hub in the country with Jamdani and muslin saris and kurtas since the time of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjeersquos chief ministership in the 2000sA Jamdani boutique in Dhaka Jamdani trade has also been impacted by growing antiIndia sentiments in Bangladesh due to political differences as well as clashes over whom the Jamdani heritage actually belongs to PicGetty ImagesHaving joined his familyrsquos Jamdani trade during his school days Das recalls attending several exhibitions at the Academy of Fine Arts the Calcutta Ice Skating Rink the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata and annual trade fairs which would yield satisfactory sales He would also supply to boutiques and individual clients through references Given the Jamdanirsquos popularity and the demand for the more prized Bangladeshi variety his business had expanded to other metro cities in India as wellKrishna Gopal Choudhury Bipul Chattopadhyay and Saiful IslamldquoThe last two years since late 2023 have been more disastrous for us than the pandemicrdquo Das tells Sunday midday ldquoWe were unable to obtain visas and couldnrsquot participate in any of the exhibitions in Kolkata and lost out on a lot of business as a result Travelling between the two countries has become difficultrdquo he says alluding besides weavers to the frequent Bangladeshi medical tourists to IndiaIn an industry that relies heavily on an informal trustbased credit system during this period of political volatility and confusion many clients defaulted on payments ldquoBusiness has been badrdquo says Das even as he insists on the generosity of many of his Kolkata customers ldquowho have helped us out during these trying circumstancesrdquo Due to economic strains interest from individual buyers for a premium luxury item has also fallen he says which in turn has affected production ldquoIf we were making 120 saris in a day earlier now we are making 30rdquoZakir Mollah a weaver who lives and works in Murapara in Narayanganj Bangladesh has worked in the family Jamdani business for 30 years He says that in the last few years since many cotton mills in Bangladesh have shut down they have had to rely on India and China for cottonRs 3500Average cost of simpler Jamdani sareesRs 1LakhAverage cost of a complex Dhakai Jamdani sareeTriviaIndoBangla trade relations have declined by more than 30 per cent in the last 2 years say expertsWhose weave is it anywayIndia and Bangladesh have for long clashed over the authenticity regional origin and commercial rights of the Jamdani The reasons for this are both bureaucratic and technicalBoth countries have geographical indication GI registration for Jamdani In India each state has a budget to compete for GI tags making it more agile when it came to claiming the Jamdani as its own says Saiful Islam founder and MD of the Bengal Muslin project ldquoIn Bangladeshrdquo he adds ldquothe system is slower and more bureaucraticrdquoldquoThere is this feeling in India that they were the larger country with the other subcontinental countries being part of the greater India where their heritage extends back rather than going forward That is a source of confusion and confrontationrdquo says IslamMoreover confusion around what constitutes a Jamdani has further muddled the issue The definition of Jamdani sits within its patterns and its weave explains Islam In Bangladesh itrsquos the unique motifs made by the extra weft that define a Jamdani while in West Bengal itrsquos not those designs but simply the extra weft ldquoThis should not be allowed to happen but is happeningrdquo he says This weaponisation of cultural heritage for political and economic reasons is not necessarily the result of recent tensions but a longer term issue says Islam ldquoBut with the recent unrest the chances of reaching amicable solutions are going to be even lessrdquoThe industry for years has been plagued by problems faced by the handloom industry as a whole such as industrialisation lack of recognition low reward structures and cheaper alternatives As Islam says ldquoIt might be a hereditary business but it is no longer a hereditary professionrdquoThere are also Bangladeshspecific factors like high logistical costs due to pressure on roads as Bipul Chattopadhyay executive director at CUTS International mdash a Rajasthanbased nonprofit that works to promote consumer empowerment mdash points out There is also a lack of diversification that has affected traditional Jamdani weaving families forcing many to leave a generational trade Chattopadhyay offers the example of Rajasthanrsquos kota doria fabric where not just saris but dress material is also made in bulk ldquoThat diversification is happening much faster in India as compared to BangladeshrdquoPolitical undercurrentsThe economic craft and trade relationships between the two countries have played out against the larger political background of Indiarsquos unpopular backing of former Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League Party and the deep antiIndia sentiments that surfaced during the Gen Zled July 2024 uprising ldquoThere is a strong feeling within Bangladesh that India has forever treated it as a secondrate partnerrdquo shares Islam ldquoIn the last two years the trade relationship has gone down by more than 30 per centrdquoThe Jamdani trade Islam further explains has formal and informal prongs with the informal one believed to be at least four times that of the formal one This informal trade he believes has continued to some extent despite the general supply chain disruptions Although the numbers have declined by 6070 per cent there are still people willing to take items across the borderMoreover with all manner of Bangladeshi tourists to India declining there is more money available for those tourists to shop locally in Bangladesh shares Islam ldquoMore Bangladeshi women are buying Jamdani and are paying more attention to local products in lieu of shopping in KolkatardquoIn the midst of straining IndoBangla ties the Jamdani has revived longstanding conversations between the two countries around cultural identity In December 2024 for instance demonstrators burned Dhakai Jamdani sarees at a rally in Kolkata to protest against atrocities against Hindus in BangladeshCarrying cash across the borderKrishna Gopal Choudhury runs a virtual store Dhakar Anka as well as an ancillary studio in Kolkatarsquos VIP Road that offers ldquoa platter of crafts from the other side of Bengalrdquo A textile designing graduate from NIFT Kolkata Choudhury has visited regions of Bangladesh in search of handicrafts and the artisans who make them travelling through Narayanganj and Shahzadpur for Jamdani Jamalpur for nakshi kantha and nakshi pakha Sylhet for nakshi pati Tangail for the tangail sari Kushtia for handwoven gamchas and lungis and Kishoreganj for clay idolsBut working exclusively with artisans from across the border has had its challenges There is no official transactional system between India and Bangladesh says Choudhury In the absence of a direct online system to enable payments there are invariably problems to be faced when carrying cash across the border he saysWhat happenedSheikh HasinaIndiaBangladesh relations have been strained since the neighbouring countryrsquos former PM Sheikh Hasina was ousted and took refuge in India creating a diplomatic crisis Current geopolitical unrest coupled with visa hurdles between the two countries has only exacerbated those difficultiesOn May 17 2025 India banned the import of garments processed foods wooden furniture and other items from Bangladesh across land borders resulting in the timeconsuming rerouting of trade to seaports ldquoYour craft item now has to go to Chottogram Port which is in a remote part of BangladeshTransportation which earlier took a week now takes a month or twordquo says business owner Krishna Gopal ChoudhuryBut the Jamdani has not been rerouted to seaports insists UKbased textile revivalist and founder and Managing Director of the Bengal Muslin project Saiful Islam ldquoJamdani is still very much a landbased trade It is not centralised unlike the garments industry which is vast and powerful and has found shipping alternatives through Maldives or Sri LankardquoldquoJamdani has individual traders mdash some big some small It is a land routebased industry with no sea alternatives Itrsquos a question of taking more risksrdquoIn April 2025 Bangladesh too had restricted certain imports from India including cotton yarn mdash part of a lsquominitrade war lsquoafter India suspended transhipment facilities