Bangladesh Interim Government Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus has said there is no alternative to maintaining good ties with India, even as he said that there have been “some clouds” in the relationship due to “propaganda”.
“Some conflicts had been seen in the midway. I would say some clouds were seen. These clouds mostly came through propaganda. Others will judge the sources of those as propaganda,” Yunus told BBC Bangla in an interview published on Monday.
The comments come as the interim government is set to complete seven months, since it was formed following the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on August 5 last year by a so-called “student-led” protest.
Yunus’ remarks also come as UNB quoted diplomatic sources to say that there might be a possible first ever in-person meeting between Chief Adviser Yunus and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok on April 4, 2025.
Responding to a specific question, Yunus said the relations between the two neighbours are in very good shape and there has been “no deterioration”.
He said, there had been some misunderstandings. “We are trying to overcome those misunderstandings. There is no problem in our basic relationship,” Yunus added.
The Chief Adviser said he had always explained that the relations between Bangladesh and India are so deep, still the relationship is in good shape and it will remain good in the future. “There is no alternative to maintain good relations between the two countries,” said Yunus said.
He said the relationship between Bangladesh and India is “historically, politically and economically” very close and they “cannot deviate” from this.
He also referred to huge “interdependencies” on each other.
Yunus said there is continuous communication between the two countries.
After the Interim Government was formed Prime Minister Modi sent a message to Chief Adviser Yunus, later they had a telephone conversation, and Modi invited Prof Yunus to join the third Voice of Global South Summit hosted virtually by New Delhi on August 17 last year.
On January 1 this year, Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain made it clear that maintaining good relationships with three big countries – India, China and the United States- is among the priorities in 2025. He stressed that Dhaka’s ties with Delhi will advance beyond a single issue.
Adviser Hossain recently had a meeting with Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in Muscat, Oman and invited him to visit Bangladesh as part of the Foreign Minister-level mechanism that the two countries have.
Hossain said both Dhaka and New Delhi agreed to have “good working relations” by removing the remaining problems.
He said businesses have already picked up and apparently reached their previous level but there are still some issues like visa related problems.
Meanwhile, Jaishankar in a separate program in New Delhi said Bangladesh needs to make up its mind what kind of relationship it wants with New Delhi, stressing that the two neighbours share a very special history that goes back to 1971.
“If every day someone in the interim government stands up and blames India for everything, some of those things if you look at the reports are absolutely ridiculous. You cannot, on one hand, say I would now like to have good relations with you, but I get up every morning and blame you for everything that goes wrong. It is also a decision that they have to make,” Jaishankar said while speaking at the Delhi University Literature Festival.
He said India has sent a very clear signal to Dhaka that it would like to see things “calm down” and the resumption of normal bilateral ties, but it is unhappy with the constantly hostile messaging emanating from across the border.
