Bangladesh votes on February 12 and the two frontrunner parties have historically had far cooler ties with India than Hasina did during her uninterrupted 15-year rule from 2009. Her Awami League party is now banned and she is in self-imposed exile in New Delhi. “People in Bangladesh see India as complicit with Sheikh Hasina’s crimes,” said Humaiun Kobir, foreign affairs adviser to leading prime ministerial candidate Tarique Rahman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Under Hasina, Indian conglomerates, including the Adani Group, expanded their business in Bangladesh, although no new deals have materialised since. “Bangladesh needs both China and India, and you have to think of it in pragmatic terms,” said Lailufar Yasmin of Dhaka University.

Source: The Telegraph February 10, 2026 07:14 UTC