India hedges in Bangladesh reset, signals readiness to work with BNP, wary of Jamaat’s rise

New Delhi: Even as Bangladesh went to the polls without the Awami League – the party that had swept the last four elections – India on Thursday kept its options open but, at the same time, reminded that it had called for an inclusive and credible contest for the mandate of the people in the neighbouring nation.

New Delhi hopes to have a functional, albeit with a degree of uncertainty, relationship with Dhaka if the Bangladesh National Party, led by Tarique Rahman, comes to power, as indicated by the early trends. The Jamaat-e-Islami, which appears to be trailing behind the BNP, has never been a favourite for New Delhi, given its radical ideology as well as its history of hostility to India and proximity with Pakistan.

“We should wait for the outcome of the elections to see what sort of mandate has come out, and, thereafter, we would look at the issues there,” Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), said when journalists asked for New Delhi’s views on the elections in Bangladesh. “On the election, per se, you know what our position has been. We stand for free, fair, inclusive and credible elections in Bangladesh.”

Muhammad Yunus’s interim government in Dhaka had banned the Awami League, led by former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, on May 10, 2025. The party had also been barred from contesting the elections in Bangladesh.

New Delhi has been asking for “inclusive elections”, tacitly signalling its displeasure over the move to ban the Awami League, which was accused by its political rivals of being pro-India in Bangladesh.

However, as the BNP was predicted to have an edge in the elections, New Delhi, over the past few months, reached out to its leadership, signalling India’s intent to have a new relationship with the party, which might come to power in the neighbouring country.

New Delhi signalled its willingness to work with a BNP-led government in Dhaka as long as the new regime in Bangladesh would remain sensitive to the core security interests of India. The rise of Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh will continue to be a concern for India, even if the radical party ends up as the main Opposition.

Dhaka’s relations with New Delhi had come under stress during the late BNP supremo Khaleda Zia’s three terms as prime minister of Bangladesh between 1991 and 2008. Her government had allowed the militant organisation operating in the northeastern states of India to set up camps in Bangladesh. She had turned down New Delhi’s request to Dhaka for connectivity through Bangladesh between India’s landlocked northeastern states and its mainland. Her party, BNP, even till a few months back, criticised New Delhi for allowing the deposed prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and other leaders of her Awami League to stay in India and hatch a conspiracy to destabilise Bangladesh.

As the health of Khaleda Zia had deteriorated and she had been put on a ventilator in a hospital in Dhaka since November 23, New Delhi had on December 1 offered support for her medical care. “As the first woman prime minister of Bangladesh, her important contributions towards the development of Bangladesh, as well as India-Bangladesh relations, will always be remembered,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi had posted on X after her demise on December 30. “I recall my warm meeting with her in Dhaka in 2015. We hope that her vision and legacy will continue to guide our partnership.”

Khaleda Zia, the first female prime minister of the neighbouring country, had led the BNP – founded by her husband Ziaur Rahman in 1978 – till her imprisonment in graft cases in 2018. Her son, Tarique Rahman, who has been the de facto leader of the BNP for the past seven years, recently returned to Dhaka after a 17-year exile in London and formally took over as the chairman of the party after his 80-year-old mother passed away.

After the demise of Khaleda Zia, Modi sent External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to Dhaka, who not only attended her funeral but also met Tarique Rahman. Jaishankar handed over to Rahman a personal condolence letter from Modi, but returned to New Delhi without calling on Yunus.

A source in New Delhi told DH that India would expect the new government in Bangladesh to strongly deal with the radical Islamists and stop atrocities on the minority communities in Bangladesh, and take into account the sensitivities of India while pursuing relationships with Pakistan and China. Dhaka’s demand for the extradition of Sheikh Hasina, who has been living in India since fleeing Bangladesh on August 5, 2024, however, would continue to be an irritant in its ties with New Delhi.