Bangladesh crisis leaves India with major foreign policy challenge, uncertainty over trade ties

Lack of political stability can compound Bangladesh’s economic woes that could disturb South Asia region, analysts say

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A burnt Awami League party office is pictured as anti-government protestors set fire in Dhaka on Tuesday, after former prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country. Photo: TNS

Published: 1:30pm, 11 Aug 2024Updated: 1:55pm, 11 Aug 2024

The sudden exit of Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from the country in the wake of mass student protests is threatening to become one of India’s worst foreign policy headaches that is likely to test all of its capability to resolve.

After having fled the country, Hasina landed in India’s Hindon Air Base on the outskirts of the capital New Delhi, where she is likely to be based temporarily before heading to a European destination, according to local media reports.

India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar told the country’s upper house of parliament on Tuesday that Hasina had “at very short notice … requested approval to come for the moment to India” after she resigned the day before.

The minister said the government was in touch with authorities to ensure the safety of the 19,000-strong Indian community in Bangladesh, out of whom 9,000 are students.

“The bulk of the students have already returned to India in the month of July on the advice of the High Commission,” Jaishankar said, adding that border forces had also been instructed to be “exceptionally alert in view of this complex situation”.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shakes hand with his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina in New Delhi, India, in June. Photo: AP

Throughout her 15-year rule, Hasina had maintained strong ties with Delhi that had blossomed into Bangladesh emerging as one of India’s top export destinations for a variety of goods and services – from cotton yarn to make garments to information technology.