PM Modi meets Bangladesh's Chief Adviser Yunus in Bangkok

New Delhi: India wants to see an inclusive democracy thriving in Bangladesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the head of the interim government in Dhaka, Muhammad Yunus, on Friday, expressing “serious concerns” for the safety of the Hindus and other minorities in the neighbouring country.

Yunus reiterated his government’s demand for the extradition of the former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina from India. Modi, however, refrained from making any commitment on the demand.

He told his de facto counterpart that any rhetoric that could vitiate the environment and strain the bilateral relations should be avoided.

Modi and Yunus met on the sidelines of the sixth BIMSTEC summit in Bangkok. This was the first meeting between the two leaders after the microcredit pioneer, who had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, took over as the chief advisor of an interim government in Bangladesh on August 8, 2024.

“I reiterated India’s support for peace, stability, inclusivity and democracy in Bangladesh. Discussed measures to prevent illegal border crossings and expressed our serious concern for the safety and well-being of Hindus and other minorities,” Modi posted on X after the meeting with Yunus.

Yunus’s interim dispensation had taken over three days after Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government in Dhaka had collapsed in the wake of a mass protest across Bangladesh against police crackdown on students and youths, who had been agitating against reservation in government recruitment.

The change of regime in Dhaka was followed by a spurt in radical extremism across Bangladesh, with a series of incidents of attacks on the minority communities across the country, including the Hindus.

New Delhi has been conveying to the interim government in Dhaka its concerns over the persecution of the minorities in Bangladesh.

“The prime minister also underlined India's concerns related to the safety and security of minorities in Bangladesh, including Hindus, and expressed his expectation that the Government of Bangladesh would ensure their security, including by thoroughly investigating all cases of atrocities committed against them,” Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told journalists in Bangkok after the meeting.

Modi also made it clear to Yunus that the responsibility for ensuring the safety and security of the minorities lay with the government of Bangladesh.

He expressed his hope that the government would fulfil its responsibilities with seriousness and ensure that the incidents of attacks on the minority communities would be properly investigated and addressed, according to Misri.

Sheikh Hasina has been living in India ever since she flew from Dhaka to the Indian Air Force base at Hindon near New Delhi aboard a military aircraft on August 5, 2024.

Yunus’s government, on December 23, 2024, formally requested New Delhi for the extradition of Sheikh Hasina to Bangladesh, where she and her close aides as well as several Awami League leaders and activists had been implicated in multiple criminal cases over the past few months, including the ones related to corruption, murders, abductions, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

Yunus reiterated the demand for the extradition of Sheikh Hasina during his meeting with Modi in Bangkok on Friday, said Shafiqul Alam, the press secretary of the chief advisor of the interim government in Bangladesh.

“As our spokesperson has already informed you earlier, we have indeed received a communication on this issue (extradition of Sheikh Hasina). At this point, it would not be appropriate for me to comment further on the subject,” Misri told journalists.

New Delhi’s subtle nudge to the interim government in Dhaka for an inclusive democracy came amid growing clamour from a section for barring Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League from participating in the parliamentary elections in Bangladesh, which Yunus promised to hold between December 2025 and June 2026.

“As far as the issue of elections is concerned, it is well understood that in any democracy, regular and inclusive elections are a vital component. Prime Minister Modi shared his views on this matter with Professor Muhammad Yunus and expressed his hope that, moving forward, we will see a democratic, inclusive, and stable Bangladesh. It is universally acknowledged that elections play a crucial role in achieving that vision,” said Misri.