Dhaka : With just a week left for the crucial Bangladesh elections, the first since the overthrow of Sheikh Hasina, the two major parties have outlined their future foreign policy and stance towards India if they form the government. For India, the stakes are exceptionally high, at a time when ties under interim chief Muhammad Yunus have hit an all-time low.
Over the past decade, India put all its eggs in the Awami League basket and cultivated close ties with Hasina, who fled to India in 2024 during the student-led protests. Hasina maintained a safe distance from Pakistan and walked a tightrope with China. The situation has taken a U-turn under Yunus, who has reset Bangladesh’s ties with Pakistan and given political space to radical Islamist elements who have frequently spewed anti-India venom.
BNP, which was headed by Hasina’s rival Khaleda Zia before Rahman took over last year, is being seen by India as a more liberal and democratic option. Even though ties between India and the BNP have been historically rocky. Unveiling the BNP election manifesto on Friday, with the tagline ‘Shobar Aage Bangladesh’ (Bangladesh First), Rahman pledged to treat other nations as friends, and not “masters”. It suggests that Bangladesh won’t be a proxy of any country.
Bangladesh shall not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, and will not accept interference in its own affairs,” he further said. This is crucial, coming amid provocative remarks by Bangladeshi leaders on severing India’s vulnerable Chicken’s Neck corridor and the landlocked northeast region. Last year, Yunus rankled India after he brought up India’s “landlocked” northeast region during his visit to China. The Nobel Laureate claimed that Bangladesh was the “only guardian of the ocean” in the region, as northeast India was “landlocked”.
Rahman’s assurance in this aspect will be welcome by New Delhi. In fact, on several occasions, Rahman has categorically made it clear that the BNP would not align with either Pakistan or India if it came to power. “Not Dilli, Not Pindi, Bangladesh before everything,” Rahman had said. Even though Rahman did not explicitly mention India while releasing his party’s manifesto, the Jamaat specifically talked of maintaining “friendly and cooperative” relations with New Delhi. Interestingly, there was no mention of Pakistan in its manifesto, released by its president, Shafiqur Rahman, on Wednesday.
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