New Delhi: India on Friday clarified that it had no role in a media event organised by former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in New Delhi, distancing itself from remarks made during the programme regarding Bangladesh’s government and her political future.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the August 5 event was organised by a private media entity and that the Indian government neither participated in nor endorsed statements made at the forum. “The government had no role to play in what was an event by a private media entity, and the government does not endorse anything said at the forum, especially with regard to the duly constituted government of Bangladesh,” Jaiswal said.
The clarification comes amid renewed political tensions surrounding Hasina, who has been living in India since her ouster in August 2024. Her Awami League has been banned in Bangladesh, while Hasina faces a death sentence in the country.
The former Bangladesh premier addressed the August 5 press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia in New Delhi through an audio link. During the interaction, she announced that she intended to return to Bangladesh in December, describing it as the month associated with the country’s victory in the 1971 Liberation War.
Hasina said she was prepared to face detention or imprisonment upon her return and argued that concerns over her personal safety could no longer determine her political decisions. She said she wanted to return because Bangladeshis deserved security, development, prosperity and peace.
“My life moved beyond calculations of personal safety long ago,” Hasina said, asserting that her proposed return was aimed at standing with the people and helping restore what she described as Bangladesh’s path of development, secularism, stability and democracy.
The event had drawn a sharp response from Dhaka. Bangladesh’s Foreign Ministry accused Hasina, whom it described as an “absconding convicted genocider”, of making hostile statements against the Bangladeshi state and its people. It also said Dhaka had previously conveyed concerns to New Delhi about the possible impact of the event on efforts to reset bilateral relations.
India’s latest clarification also comes against the backdrop of New Delhi’s evolving engagement with Bangladesh’s current political leadership. India had earlier raised questions about the inclusivity of Bangladesh’s February general elections, in which the Awami League was barred from contesting. Following the election, however, New Delhi welcomed the victory of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and congratulated its leader Tarique Rahman.
The MEA’s statement, therefore, underlines New Delhi’s effort to maintain diplomatic distance from Hasina’s political statements while continuing its engagement with the government currently in power in Dhaka.
