New Delhi: India raised its concerns about the situation in Bangladesh during the meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump. The development came against the backdrop of frosty ties between New Delhi and Dhaka.
Even as the relations between India and Bangladesh plummeted to their lowest point in decades following the ouster of former premier Sheikh Hasina and the formation of an interim government last August, speculation has grown within political circles in Dhaka about a possible role of the US “deep state” in the protests that led to the downfall of the Awami League government.
Trump was even asked about this speculation during a media engagement ahead of his talks with Modi, and he replied that the US had no hand in the change of government in Bangladesh last year.
“Well, there was no role for our deep state. This is something that the Prime Minister’s been working on for a long time, and has been worked on for hundreds of years, frankly. I’ve been reading about it but I will leave Bangladesh to the Prime Minister,” Trump said, though it was not immediately clear what efforts he was referring to on the Indian side.
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When foreign secretary Vikram Misri briefed the media after the meeting between the two leaders, he acknowledged that the situation in Bangladesh had figured in their discussions – a development that is unlikely to go down well with the caretaker administration led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.
“This was a subject discussed between the two leaders and the Prime Minister shared his views and, indeed his concerns, with regard to recent developments in Bangladesh and how India sees the situation,” Misri said.
Though Misri didn’t give details, India has repeatedly expressed concern about the Bangladeshi interim government’s handling of attacks and incidents targeting the country’s Hindus and other minorities.
The Indian side has also been wary of the rapidly growing ties between the militaries of Bangladesh and Pakistan, including their intelligence agencies, as well as comments by Bangladeshi student leaders who are part of the interim government that are seen as inimical to Indian interests. New Delhi also has concerns about Dhaka’s opposition to build a fence along the remaining unfenced stretches of the international border.
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Misri said the Indian side hopes the situation in Bangladesh will “move forward in a direction where we can pursue relations in a constructive and stable way with them”.
“But there are concerns about that situation and the Prime Minister shared those views with President Trump,” he added.
In recent weeks, India and Bangladesh have summoned each other’s senior-most diplomats in New Delhi and Dhaka to lodge protests on a range of issues. The Bangladesh foreign ministry has protested against what it said were Hasina’s “false and fabricated” statements from self-exile in India, while New Delhi condemned the destruction of the home of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh, by a mob in Dhaka.