New Delhi: A year after Sheikh Hasina’s fall from power, which took New Delhi by surprise, India remains cautious, with a focus on establishing ties with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and others currently active in the country, even as it continues to offer refuge to the former prime minister.
While the political rhetoric from both sides has dialed down, New Delhi continues to apply economic pressure on Bangladesh, imposing restrictions on imports and on the transshipment of goods.
For 15 years, New Delhi had a strong partner in Dhaka with Hasina, that helped curb worries of extremism in the Northeast, while preventing another nation in the neighbourhood from pivoting hard towards China.
Hasina’s first foreign visit in her fourth consecutive term as prime minister was to India—six months after she was elected—an indication of the importance she placed on ties with New Delhi. She attempted to cultivate a careful balance between India and China.
Hasina’s fall upended India’s careful choreography of neighbourhood diplomacy, with current chief adviser Muhammad Yunus and the interim government often pointing fingers at New Delhi on a number of issues including border security.
For India, the rights of minorities and “inclusive” elections—with all parties in Bangladesh including the banned Awami League participating—have been its two major talking points over the last year. Chief Adviser Yunus has promised elections will be held in April 2026.
On minorities, India for example, has sparred with Dhaka over the arrest of Chinmoy Krishna Das, the former ISKCON Bangladesh leader. A day after Das’ arrest in November 2024, India slammed “extremist elements” in Bangladesh and the continued attacks on Hindus in the country. In April, the two countries had another diplomatic back and forth over the killing of Bhabesh Chandra Roy, a Hindu leader in Bangladesh.
New Delhi has also taken exception to the desecration of temples, and publicly asked Bangladesh to do more for the security of Hindus and other minorities in the country. Last year, New Delhi went so far as to identify at least 2,200 incidents of attacks against minorities, a claim that was first dismissed by Dhaka, before it started getting them investigated by relevant Bangladeshi authorities.
India has taken exception to Dhaka blaming New Delhi for its domestic issues. For Dhaka, the consistent reference to a “foreign hand” is a reference to alleged activities by India. Also, political parties including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Jamaat-e-Islami have had delegation visits to China in recent weeks.
Beijing’s ambassador to Dhaka, Yao Wen, last week highlighted that the Communist Party of China (CPC) wants to strengthen its political ties with the parties in Bangladesh. Both China and Pakistan have in the last year attempted to deepen engagement with the interim government in Dhaka. Yunus has been more welcoming of the trilateral partnership with Beijing and Islamabad.
Earlier this year, the first trilateral between officials from Islamabad, Beijing and Dhaka took place in China. The other country that has courted Yunus is Türkey. Last month senior Turkish defence industry official Haluk Gorgan is reported to have travelled to Dhaka, while Ashik Chowdhury, the Chairman of the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA), visited a military factory during his visit to Türkey in May.
The US is another actor in Bangladesh. Earlier this year, State-owned Petrobangla signed a non-binding agreement to purchase up to five million metric tonnes of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) from American firm Argent LNG. However, earlier this year, US President Donald Trump said he will “leave” the crisis in Bangladesh to India. However, Hasina has consistently claimed American interference helped unseat her, despite offering no proof.
Economic fissures
Dhaka has been pushing for “reciprocity and parity” in ties with New Delhi, as it restricted the imports of Indian yarn and rice, while enhancing inspections of goods flowing from India.
A source familiar with the matter highlighted that there has been no softening in New Delhi’s stance with Dhaka. The focus has been to ensure “parity” in economic ties, as per Dhaka’s own actions, while also waiting for elections to take place in Bangladesh.
The person pointed out the number of economic restrictions India has imposed on Bangladesh including the movement of goods through land ports to the Northeast, while also allowing only two ports—Kolkata and Nhava Shaeva in Mumbai—to handle readymade garments from across the border.
“For all references to gaining a better deal than India with the US in the case of tariffs, Bangladeshi garments will still face high-costs for export, given the current trade restrictions,” the source said.
The political distance
New Delhi is yet to roll out the red carpet for Yunus, who assumed power 8 August 2024, three days after Hasina fled Dhaka for India. The only diplomatic legitimacy afforded to the interim leader of Bangladesh was a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Yunus on the margins of the BIMSTEC Summit in 2025 April in the Thai capital of Bangkok.
India’s outreach to Yunus came as Bangladesh became the chair of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC)—an important regional forum pushed by New Delhi as SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) remains moribund.
While the meeting between the two leaders lasted 45 minutes, the two countries squabbled over the characterisation of the discussions between the two leaders—indicating the chasm between New Delhi and Dhaka on even readouts of the meeting. Sources at the time had called Dhaka’s version of the Modi-Yunus meet “malicious”, after Shafiqul Alam, Yunus’ press secretary, indicated that the Prime Minister Modi’s response to the request to extradite Hasina “was not negative”.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has met with counterpart Touhid Hossain a few times on the margins of larger summits, while Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri travelled to Dhaka last year for foreign office consultations. The Indian foreign secretary also called on Yunus and Hossain, as New Delhi believed it could reset ties with Dhaka at the time. However, the Misri visit and later the Modi-Yunus meet did little to fully reset the relationship, which continues to remain tense.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)