Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina landed at an Indian Air Force base near New Delhi within hours of resigning on 5 August. It was her natural safe haven.
Hasina has spent years cultivating relations with India, whose national security advisor, Ajit Doval, a key official in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, met the ousted Bangladeshi leader at the Hindon military base, along with senior military officials.
There was no immediate comment on Hasina from India's Ministry of External Affairs, despite successive Indian governments building their Bangladesh policy around her.
On 6 August, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told parliament that Hasina requested permission to come to India “at very short notice”, adding: “We simultaneously received a request for flight clearance from Bangladesh authorities.”
Urgent recalibration
India-Bangladesh relations “have been exceptionally close for many decades, over many governments,” said Jaishankar, but “since the election in January 2024 (that Hasina controversially won), there has been considerable tensions, deep divides and growing polarisation in Bangladesh politics”.
Jaishankar’s statement suggests that India knew for months that Hasina was in trouble, but the Modi government may have underestimated the extent of public anger against her, or else hoped that she would eventually prevail.
The Indian media has painted Hasina’s exit as having serious consequences for bilateral relations. With India’s preferred leader gone, Bangladesh’s relations with other countries—including India’s adversaries, Pakistan and China—will likely change.
