Modi discusses concerns with Bangladesh’s Yunus at BIMSTEC Summit |
India has conveyed to Bangladesh at the highest level that rhetoric vitiating bilateral relations should be avoided, safety of Hindus and minorities be ensured while investigating those who perpetrated atrocities. India-Bangladesh relations took a nosedive following the coup on 5th August 2024 that ousted former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who has since been in exile in India. Political analysts and officials on both sides in India and Bangladesh say Hasina’s ouster wasn’t just a student-led uprising. The return of military rule with Muhammad Yunus as an interim chief advisor to the government is seen to have been carefully orchestrated. Simultaneous with regime change came uncontrolled atrocities against Hindus and minorities with a clear rise of Islamist movement in the world’s eighth most-populous country. Analysts say the current Bangladesh administration has no constitutional validity and democratic elections are not in sight.
Until the 2024 coup, India-Bangladesh relations covering a whole gamut of politics, border security, economic and cultural ties were rated as good and growing. Against this backdrop, Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 4th April 2025 met with Professor Muhammad Yunus, Chief Adviser of the interim government of Bangladesh, on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok, Thailand. Modi underlined India’s support for a democratic, stable, peaceful, progressive and inclusive Bangladesh, and highlighted tangible benefits to both sides by sticking to bilateral cooperation. Indian Ministry of External Affairs said in a press note that while being pragmatically optimistic, the Indian Prime Minister clearly told Yunus that rhetoric that vitiates the environment should best be avoided, strict enforcement of law and order and peace along the border be ensured. Most importantly, Modi underlined India’s concerns related to the safety and security of minorities in Bangladesh, including Hindus, and said he expected the Government of Bangladesh would ensure their security, including by thoroughly investigating the cases of atrocities committed against them.
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