‘No Involvement’: India Clarifies Stance on Sheikh Hasina’s Upcoming Delhi Media Interaction

New Delhi: India on Tuesday clarified that it has nothing to do with former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s planned virtual interaction with the media from New Delhi this week.

Hasina is scheduled to address her first media interaction on Wednesday evening, nearly two years after she fled Dhaka amid a massive anti-government protest that toppled her government in August 2024. The virtual press conference is set to be held at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club. Her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy and several other Awami League leaders, including Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel and Shakib Al Hasan, are expected to speak.

Bangladesh had sought clarification from India on Monday. Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s foreign affairs adviser Humaiun Kobir cautioned that a public interaction from Indian soil could undermine the positive momentum seen in bilateral ties in recent months.

Responding to questions at his bi-weekly media briefing, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said: “The interaction you refer to is being organised by a private media entity. The government has no involvement whatsoever in it, neither does it endorse any views that may be expressed at the forum.”

Hasina, 78, has been living in India since fleeing Bangladesh. In November last year, a special tribunal in Dhaka sentenced her to death in absentia for alleged “crimes against humanity” over her government’s crackdown on the 2024 student-led protests. Dhaka has since repeatedly urged New Delhi to extradite her.

Relations between the two neighbours deteriorated sharply after an interim government led by Muhammad Yunus took charge following Hasina’s ouster. Efforts to stabilise ties gained momentum after Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, accompanied by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, represented India at the inauguration of Tarique Rahman as prime minister in Dhaka on February 17. Rahman assumed office following his party’s landslide victory in parliamentary polls from which Hasina’s Awami League was barred.

In April, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman visited India, the first high-level visit by a senior member of the new Bangladesh Nationalist Party government, as part of continued efforts to repair the strained bilateral relationship after more than 18 months of heightened diplomatic tension.