PM Narendra Modi and  Bangladesh’s Yunus hold important  talks as tensions rise

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with Bangladesh chief advisor Muhammad Yunus on the fringes of the sixth BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday. This bilateral discussion follows Dhaka’s request for a meeting during the BIMSTEC Summit to resolve differences, although Modi’s agenda in Thailand did not indicate the requested gathering.

The two countries experienced strained relations due to disagreements concerning reported acts of violence against Hindu minorities in Bangladesh and India’s choice to offer asylum to Sheikh Hasina. Strains in their bilateral relationship further intensified following Yunus’s remarks about India’s northeastern states during his attendance at the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) annual conference in China.

Previously, a report indicated that Modi was expected to meet Yunus. On Thursday, the prime minister and Yunus sat together at a dinner held alongside the BIMSTEC Summit.

The discussions also signify the initial highest level of interaction with the interim government since former prime minister Sheikh Hasina escaped to India and applied for asylum in August of the previous year. The ex-prime minister escaped Bangladesh after a large student-led demonstration that ended her Awami League’s 16-year rule.

Yunus stated that Dhaka dispatched “formal letters” to India requesting Hasina’s extradition for a legal trial, but did not get any official reply from New Delhi. In a letter to Yunus last month, PM Modi said, “India remains committed to advancing its partnership with Bangladesh, driven by the common aspirations for peace, stability, and prosperity, and based on mutual sensitivity to each other’s interests and concerns.”

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a regional association comprising seven nations from South Asia and Southeast Asia, with an overall population of 1.73 billion and a total GDP of US$5.2 trillion. Thailand serves as the current chair of the group. The ongoing summit marked the first in-person gathering of the leaders since the 4th BIMSTEC Summit held in Kathmandu, Nepal, back in 2018.