- India desires positive, constructive relations with Bangladesh.
- Uncertainty surrounds Bangladeshi PM Tarique Rahman's India visit.
- Tensions escalated over Sheikh Hasina's media interaction.
Jagran Bureau/New Delhi: Amid uncertainty over the visit of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, India on Tuesday clarified that it desires positive and constructive relations with Dhaka. Ties between the two countries came under fresh strain after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina held a virtual media interaction in New Delhi on August 5. It was expected that Rahman would make his first visit to New Delhi after taking the oath as Prime Minister of Bangladesh earlier this year. It was later speculated that he would attend the BRICS Summit in New Delhi. However, Bangladeshi media reported that he would skip the visit.
Rahman unlikely to visit Delhi for BRICS Summit
Last week, India’s High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Dinesh Trivedi, met Rahman in Dhaka and later conveyed the same message to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi. This triggered assumptions in diplomatic circles that he might attend the event in Delhi. Some media reports claimed he would visit Delhi before the BRICS Summit, but it is now clear that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) would refrain from visiting India amid tensions over Hasina’s extradition and the recent press conference.
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Sheikh Hasina's presser become centrepoint
Following Hasina's press interaction, Dhaka reiterated its demand for her extradition and even sought to link it with Rahman's possible visit to India. "India desires positive, constructive and forward-looking relations with Bangladesh based on mutuality of interests and reciprocity," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at his bi-weekly media briefing on Tuesday.
"Our position on the press conference by the former Bangladesh prime minister needs no repetition. On the issue of extraditions, our consistent position has been that these requests are being examined as part of our established processes," he said.
Following Hasina's media event, India sought to distance itself from it, saying New Delhi neither played a role in it nor endorsed her comments.
India-Bangladesh tensions
The Bangladesh foreign ministry had reacted sharply to Hasina's media interaction and said the country is "outraged" as the interaction was permitted to be held despite Dhaka conveying concerns to New Delhi over the likely ramifications of the event on the bilateral relations.
Hasina, 78, was ousted from power in August 2024 following violent student-led protests. She has been living in India since fleeing Dhaka on August 5 that year. Amid the continuing strain in ties, India invited Prime Minister Rahman for a bilateral visit as well as to attend the outreach session of the upcoming BRICS summit in New Delhi.
India is hosting the annual BRICS summit in New Delhi on September 12 and 13 that is expected to deliberate extensively on a number of pressing global challenges, including the economic consequences of the West Asia crisis.
On a recent report by a UN Security Council body pointing to al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) attempting to set up cells in Bangladesh, Jaiswal said terrorism and security matters are a "common scourge". "We want to fight this problem together," he said.
(With inputs from agency)