Dinesh Trivedi was born on June 4, 1950 in New Delhi, and he is an experienced Indian politician who has just been made the High Commissioner of India in Bangladesh. This will be a big departure to the Modi government who has decided to appoint a non-career diplomat at a time when the bilateral relations are sour after the Dhaka political transitions.
Trivedi is born in a Gujarati family that immigrated to India in the Partition of 1947 in Karachi, he is the youngest son of Hiralal and Urmilaben Trivedi. After moving to different locations, his father was employed in Hindustan Construction Company in Kolkata.
He was educated in Himachal Pradesh in boarding schools, was a graduate in commerce at St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata, and an MBA graduate at the University of Texas at Austin, having trained as a pilot- this was his childhood ambition to join the Indian Air Force. He was a trained sitar player, who briefly thought about acting and becoming a monk before becoming a businessman.
Business and Early Activism
Trivedi joined Chicago in 1974, after completing his MBA and proceeded to work in India in logistics, establishing an air freight company in Kolkata in 1984, and a consumer protection center.
He became well known by petitioning to the Supreme Court, especially in pursuing the release of the Vohra Report on political criminalization, which inspired the Right to Information movement.
Political Career
Entering politics in the 1980s with Congress, Trivedi joined Janata Dal in 1990 and Trinamool Congress (TMC) in 1998 as its first general secretary.
He served as Rajya Sabha MP (1990–96 from Gujarat, 2002–08 and 2020–21 from West Bengal) and Lok Sabha MP from Barrackpore (2009–19).
He served as a Minister of State in UPA government and Minister of Railway (2012) and Minister of Health (2009) where he resigned following a proposed hike in fares against the will of TMC chief Mamata Banerjee despite popular opposition.
He quit TMC in 2021 to join BJP. He became an Outstanding Parliamentarian in 2016-17 and was the chair of the Indo-European Union Parliamentary Forum.
Diplomatic Appointment
In April 2026, Trivedi was appointed to be the High Commissioner to Bangladesh, to replace IFS officer Pranay Verma (now in Brussels).
This initial poster-led posting with Modi is awaiting Dhaka to approve it, hoping to improve relations that have been poor since the 2024 ousting of Hasina Sheikh, using Trivedi experience in governing the country in areas such as border security and water-sharing.
