India and Bangladesh Leaders Meet for First Time since Revolution
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Friday with the leader of neighboring Bangladesh, the first such meeting since a revolution in Dhaka ousted New Delhi’s long-term ally and soured relations.
Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, 84, took charge of Bangladesh in August 2024 after India’s old ally Sheikh Hasina was toppled as prime minister by a student-led uprising and fled by helicopter to India.
India was the biggest benefactor of Hasina’s government, and her overthrow sent cross-border relations into a tailspin, culminating in Yunus choosing to make his first state visit last month to China — India’s biggest rival.
Tensions between India and Bangladesh have prompted a number of tit-for-tat barbs between senior figures from both governments.
New Delhi has in the past has repeatedly accused Muslim-majority Bangladesh of failing to adequately protect its minority Hindu citizens — charges denied by the caretaker administration of Yunus.
On Friday, Yunus posted a picture on social media showing him shaking hands with Modi, and his press secretary Shafiqul Alam later said the “meeting was constructive, productive, and fruitful”.
Their meeting took place on the sidelines of a regional summit in Thailand.
Yunus also shared a photograph of the two men smiling as he handed Modi a framed picture of themselves a decade ago — when the Indian leader in 2015 honored the micro-finance pioneer with a gold medal for this work supporting the poorest of society.
