India-Bangladesh ties worsen amid protest; New Delhi shuts visa services in Dhaka

New Delhi: With a radical organisation in Bangladesh staging a protest in front of the High Commission of India, New Delhi not only summoned the envoy of Dhaka on Wednesday and lodged a strong protest but also shut down the facility for receiving and processing visa applications in the capital of the neighbouring country.

New Delhi asked the interim government in Dhaka to ensure the safety of India’s missions and posts in Bangladesh in keeping with its diplomatic obligations.

The relations between New Delhi and Dhaka worsened on the 54th anniversary of India’s victory against Pakistan in the 1971 war, which had led to the birth of Bangladesh as an independent nation out of East Pakistan.

The interim government led by Muhammad Yunus in Dhaka on Wednesday alleged that New Delhi had always downplayed the success of the ‘Muktijoddhas’ or liberation warriors of Bangladesh in the war and highlighted the victory of India’s armed forces against Pakistan’s.

Riaz Hamidullah, the High Commissioner of Bangladesh to India, was summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs headquarters, where senior officials conveyed to him New Delhi’s “strong concerns” over the deteriorating security environment in Bangladesh.

His attention was drawn particularly to the activities of some extremist elements, who announced “plans to create a security situation” around the High Commission of India in Dhaka, according to the MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.

New Delhi also shut down the Indian Visa Application Centre at Jamuna Future Park in Dhaka from 2 pm local time on Wednesday, in view of the “ongoing security situation”.

“India has close and friendly relations with the people of Bangladesh, rooted in the liberation struggle and strengthened through various developmental and people-to-people initiatives,” New Delhi noted in a démarche issued to Dhaka.

A radical organisation, “July Oikya Mancha”, staged a protest march near New Delhi’s diplomatic mission in Dhaka on Wednesday, demanding that India hand over to Bangladesh the country’s deposed former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and the former interior minister of the erstwhile Awami League government of the state, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, at the earliest.

A court in Dhaka on November 17 last awarded the death sentence to Hasina and Kamal for the “crimes against humanity” committed during the police crackdown on the students and youths, who had protested against reservations in government jobs in July-August 2024, leading to the fall of the Awami League government.

The protest by the “July Oikya Mancha”, a radical organisation born out of the agitation against the Awami League government, against India’s alleged interference in the politics in Bangladesh, followed an attack on Sharif Osman Hadi, a right-wing student leader in the neighbouring country, on December 12.

After the attack on Hadi, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Muhammad Yunus’s interim government in Bangladesh accused Sheikh Hasina and other Awami League leaders of organising terrorist attacks in the country from India.

Dhaka alleged that India’s territory was being used for activities detrimental to the interests of Bangladesh. Pranay Verma, India’s High Commissioner to Bangladesh, was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the neighbouring country’s government on December 14.

Dhaka conveyed to New Delhi its “serious concern” over Sheikh Hasina’s continued public statements, which allegedly encouraged her supporters to resort to violence to disrupt the upcoming parliamentary elections in Bangladesh in February 2026.

“India completely rejects the false narrative sought to be created by extremist elements regarding certain recent events in Bangladesh. It is unfortunate that the interim government has neither conducted a thorough investigation nor shared meaningful evidence with India regarding the incidents,” the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi stated on Wednesday.

What also added to the stress in ties between New Delhi and Dhaka was the recent comment by Mahfuj Alam, one of the student leaders who had led the July-August 2024 agitation.

“We will not tolerate if terrorism is exported from India. Our enemies will not be safe if our security is harmed,” said Alam, who was a member of Muhammad Yunus’s council of advisors. Hasnat Abdullah, the leader of the National Citizen Party of Bangladesh, called India a hostile country and threatened to sever the northeastern states of India from the rest of the country.