New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to meet Muhammad Yunus, the head of the Bangladesh interim government, in April this year, on the margins of the BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok, ThePrint has learnt.
The two leaders are expected to attend the event.
Ever since, a diplomatic chill has set in between the neighbours with New Delhi accusing the Yunus-led administration of persecuting minorities while Dhaka has maintained India should give up Hasina to face trial in the country.
Modi attended the last in-person BIMSTEC summit in 2018, which took place in Kathmandu, Nepal. The last BIMSTEC summit was virtually hosted by Sri Lanka in 2022.
BIMSTEC—the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation—consists of seven members including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
In recent years, the regional grouping has assumed significance for India, given the other bloc in the region, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has been non-functional. Pakistan is a member of SAARC, but not BIMSTEC. India boycotted the last SAARC summit, which was scheduled to take place in Pakistan, following the Uri terrorist attacks in 2016. India was supported by Bangladesh and Afghanistan at the time, which led to the cancellation of the summit. No high-level SAARC summit has been held since. Dhaka has been pushing for the resumption of SAARC activities as it attempts to reconfigure its ties with Pakistan.
New Delhi and Dhaka have maintained some high-level interactions since August. Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar twice met with Touhid Hossain, foreign adviser to the interim government in Bangladesh—first on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York last September, and most recently earlier this week.
During Jaishankar’s recent discussions with Hossain, the Indian foreign minister raised cooperation with Dhaka in BIMSTEC, while his Bangladeshi counterpart urged the resumption of activities under SAARC.
Apart from Jaishankar’s meetings, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri also travelled to Dhaka in December 2024 for discussions under the foreign office consultation mechanism. Misri also called on Yunus during the visit. Most recently, the Indian Border Security Forces (BSF) held director-general level talks with Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) in New Delhi between 17 and 20 February.
Challenges in India-Bangladesh ties
Sheikh Hasina’s activities in India have been a major irritant in ties between the two countries, along with issues of border security. For India, the welfare of minorities, including Hindus in Bangladesh has been an important issue.
Hasina has made three speeches in the last few weeks to the people of Bangladesh and also to supporters of her party, the Awami League. Yunus and the Bangladeshi administration has called on India to prevent Hasina from making comments which could cause “potential instability” in Dhaka.
New Delhi has urged Dhaka to stop conflating Hasina with India, in a stinging rebuke last week, when it summoned the Bangladeshi envoy. Bangladesh has sought Hasina’s extradition, handing over a note verbale last December.
Earlier this month, protesters in Bangladesh vandalised and destroyed a portion of Dhanmondi-32, the residence of Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, Bangladesh founder and Hasina’s father. India condemned the incident.
India has said it was concerned about the welfare of Hindus, following reports of attacks against the minority community in Bangladesh.
Modi discussed India’s concerns with US President Donald Trump during his visit to Washington DC on 12-13 February.
source : the print