Following the press conference in New Delhi on August 5, 2026, by fallen dictator Sheikh Hasina, Dhaka’s outrageous diplomatic pushback once again strained ties between the two neighbours. New Delhi moved quickly to contain the fallout. Randhir Jaiswal, the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs of India, distanced the Government of India from Hasina’s remarks, explicitly stating “the government has no involvement” and “no endorsement of Hasina remarks”. Recently Tarique Rahman, prime minister of Bangladesh, cancelled his plan to visit India. This week, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India’s foreign minister, emphasised on meeting the “test of mutual interest” as a precondition of India and Bangladesh’s bilateral ties. However, any meaningful bilateral relationships between India and Bangladesh requires first understanding the deeper structural roots of anti-India sentiment among the Bangladeshi public.

The Hasina question: Post-uprising dilemma

India’s decision to shelter fallen dictator Hasina following Bangladesh’s mass uprising will decisively shape the future of bilateral relations. While the collapse of her regime marks a sharp decline in New Delhi’s unchecked influence over Dhaka, reducing the entire dynamic to blanket hostility is an oversimplification. It is inaccurate to brand the broader Bangladeshi public as inherently anti-Indian; rather, public resentment is overwhelmingly directed at Narendra Modi’s administration and New Delhi’s specific Bangladesh policy. If India continues its previous approach without interrogating why this discontent intensified so sharply under the current leadership, relations will remain fundamentally strained.

This simmering resentment escalated dramatically during Hasina’s final years in power, culminating in state visits that her opponents widely condemned as detrimental to national interests. Early in her fourth consecutive term, Hasina visited New Delhi twice within a single month – first to attend Modi’s swearing-in ceremony, and shortly after for a formal state visit. The Awami League’s overt alignment with........

© The Wire