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Bangladesh swats away India's minority concerns, calls New Delhi's comments 'unwarranted'

A picture provided by Navy PRO on Thursday shows naval ships during the India-Bangladesh Naval Exercise, Bongosagar 2025, and Coordinated Patrol in the Bay of Bengal. The exercise saw the participation of INS Ranvir from the Indian Navy and BNS Abu Ubaidah from the Bangladesh Navy

India’s concerns about the law-and-order situation, safety and security of minorities in Bangladesh and its suggestion to hold an inclusive and participatory election in the country were swatted away by Bangladesh on Thursday as its foreign ministry said New Delhi’s comments were “unwarranted,” amounting to “interference in another country’s domestic affairs”.

The rebuff, reiterating the frost over Dhaka and New Delhi relationship, came on a day Bangladesh’s growing warmth with China became apparent with the foreign ministry officially confirming chief adviser Muhammad Yunus’s visit to Beijing later this month during which he would meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on March 28.

Referring to recent remarks of his Indian counterpart Randhir Jaiswal, Bangladesh foreign ministry spokesperson Mohammad Rafiqul Alam said: “Bangladesh firmly believes these issues are entirely its internal affairs, and such remarks are unwarranted and tantamount to interference in another country’s domestic matters.”

On March 7, Jaiswal said New Delhi supports “a stable, peaceful, inclusive and progressive Bangladesh in which all issues are resolved through democratic means and by holding inclusive and participatory elections”.

He had also stressed that India was concerned about the deteriorating law and order situation, further exacerbated by the release of violent extremists, who were sentenced for serious crimes.

Multiple sources in Dhaka said that the interim government was displeased with New Delhi’s comments on the election as it indicated that India was batting for participation of Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League in the next general elections. Hasina is in exile in India and the Yunus government has sought her extradition.

In one of the most aggressive posturing towards New Delhi in recent times, Alam added that New Delhi’s comments were “misleading” and did not “reflect the reality on the ground”.

“Bangladesh upholds the principles of respecting every nation’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and non-interference in internal affairs... From this perspective, Bangladesh hopes that the relevant authorities of the Indian government will take necessary measures to refrain from making such remarks,” he added.

Though he said that Dhaka remained committed to fostering friendly and constructive relations with India based on mutual respect, trust, and understanding, his comments marked a new low in New Delhi-Dhaka ties, which nosedived after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government last August.

Since the change of guard, India’s eastern neighbour has been in a state of chaos as its economy — once the fastest growing in South Asia — lies in tatters while the law-and-order situation has worsened to such an extent that ordinary people do not leave their homes after sun down.

In recent months, Bangladesh has also witnessed a spike in crimes against women — the months of January and February recorded at least 205 and 189 incidents of rapes and various other forms of violent attacks on women, including minors, according to a report by Bangladesh Mahila Parishad — triggering large-scale protests that most main-stream media did not highlight.

On Thursday, an eight-year-old rape victim from Magura, a district in southwestern Bangladesh, died in a military hospital. Though the heinous crime was decried by large sections of Bangladeshi society, Yunus did not say anything beyond condemning the incident.

“This government has been a miserable failure in all aspects... I do not see any possibility of an improvement as those in power have no realisation that they are pushing the country towards lawlessness by protecting hardened criminals, most of whom are radical Islamists, and giving them a free run,” said a veteran journalist, on conditions of anonymity fearing a backlash, which has become a norm in Bangladesh under Yunus.

Echoing the views of a large section of Bangladeshi society, including those involved in the movement that led to the fall of Hasina, who are eagerly awaiting another change of guard through a fair and an inclusive election, New Delhi had suggested a democratic solution to the crisis gripping its eastern neighbourhood.

“This government wants to feed anti-India feelings among the people and prolong its term... As the economy is in shambles, they are in dire need of external aid and that’s why Yunus is trying to reach out to China. They are maintaining a strong anti-India position in anticipation that it would help strike a better deal with Beijing,” said the journalist.

Alam, during today’s briefing, said Yunus would hold bilateral talks with Xi on March 28, besides delivering a speech at the opening plenary of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference the previous day. Bangladeshi media reported that China had offered to send an aircraft for Yunus for his trip to Beijing.