New Delhi, India \u2013 <\/strong>Dressed in black for the occasion, India\u2019s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar met Tarique Rahman, son of the deceased former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, with sombre expressions on their faces.<\/p>\n Khaleda had passed away the previous day, on December 30, and Jaishankar was among a large group of regional leaders who had gathered in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, for her funeral.<\/p>\n Jaishankar handed Rahman, who has taken over the leadership of Khaleda\u2019s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), a letter from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Then, in a post on X alongside photos of their meeting, Jaishankar wrote words that demonstrate a dramatic break with New Delhi\u2019s past relationship with the BNP: \u201cConveyed deepest condolences on behalf of the Government and people of India. Expressed confidence that Begum Khaleda Zia\u2019s vision and values will guide the development of our partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n For decades, India had been \u2013 at times, publicly, on other occasions, privately \u2013 opposed to Khaleda\u2019s \u201cvision and values\u201d.<\/p>\n Where for millions of her supporters in Bangladesh, she represented a heroic struggle against military rule in the 1980s that first brought her to power in 1991, India viewed her with suspicion and distrust. For decades, the BNP had an alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh\u2019s largest Islamist group that advocates for stronger ties with Pakistan, India\u2019s arch-enemy. Meanwhile, India treated Khaleda\u2019s rival, Sheikh Hasina, and her avowedly secular Awami League party as its natural partners.<\/p>\n But as Bangladesh prepares for national elections in February, Jaishankar\u2019s comments underscore how India and the BNP appear to be pivoting from their animus towards a closer working relationship.<\/p>\n Jaishankar\u2019s \u201cvery cordial\u201d meeting with Rahman and his team of confidantes in Dhaka presented the \u201cpotential of a new phase in the bilateral relationship\u201d, Humayun Kabir, foreign affairs adviser to Rahman, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a shift that circumstances have forced on both India and the Rahman-led BNP, say analysts.<\/p>\n Since the student-led July 2024 uprising toppled Sheikh Hasina\u2019s 15-year rule, New Delhi\u2019s decades-long support for the ousted leader has prompted strong anti-India sentiments on Bangladeshi streets.<\/p>\n Hasina now lives in exile in New Delhi, and India has so far refused to return her to Bangladesh to face the death penalty, after being convicted in absentia by a tribunal on charges related to the brutal crackdown by her security forces on protesters last year. The United Nations estimates that about 1,400 people died in the crackdown.<\/p>\n Bilateral relations have continued to slide further: After a 2024 protest leader who was vocally anti-India was murdered, protests against India picked up again in Bangladesh. A Hindu Bangladeshi man was lynched. Both countries had to temporarily suspend visa services at their respective high commissions.<\/p>\n But Hasina\u2019s Awami League is banned from participating in the February elections. And some analysts believe that the BNP is trying to occupy the liberal and centrist political space vacated by the Awami League. It has also broken up with the Jamaat \u2013 the Islamist group has since partnered with a party formed by leaders of the 2024 student protest movement, in a formidable alliance.<\/p>\n The BNP and the Jamaat-led coalition are seen as the frontrunners competing to form the next government after the February elections. And while India can\u2019t reconcile with the Jamaat\u2019s politics \u2013 and its pro-Pakistan tilt \u2013 Rahman has in recent days made statements that are far more palatable to New Delhi.<\/p>\n Since returning to Dhaka in late December after 17 years in exile, Rahman told supporters that he wanted an inclusive Bangladesh, where minorities are safe.<\/p>\n His words suggest that Rahman has \u201cmatured during his years in exile\u201d, Harsh Vardhan Shringla, a former Indian foreign secretary who has also served as high commissioner in Dhaka, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n Like Rahman, the BNP itself has largely been in political exile since it was last in power in 2006 \u2013 the party and its leaders were first targeted by an interim military-backed government and then by Hasina\u2019s Awami League government with multiple cases and arrests.<\/p>\n Its last stint in office coincided in large part with the last time that Modi\u2019s Bharatiya Janata Party was in power, between 1998 and 2004. At the time, India\u2019s prime minister was Atal Bihari Vajpayee.<\/p>\n Areas of contention between the BJP-ruled India and BNP-ruled Bangladesh ranged from trade disputes, border disputes, river water sharing, migration, armed rebellion, and violence against minorities. New Delhi accused Bangladesh of allowing several anti-India armed fighters shelter on its terrain, and the issue became a\u00a0major irritant in bilateral relations.<\/p>\n India also accused the BNP of pandering to Pakistani intelligence agencies. Dhaka denied these accusations.<\/p>\n \u201cEssentially, the background has been one of mutual mistrust and animosity that is historic,\u201d said Shringla, who is now a member of the Indian parliament\u2019s upper house, nominated by Modi\u2019s BJP.<\/p>\n \u201cUnder the BNP years [2001-2006], Bangladesh supported an anti-India line and became very close to Pakistan,\u201d Shringla told Al Jazeera. \u201cAnd [Tarique] Rahman was a prime mover in that government and had disproportionate influence.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet calculations have changed.<\/p>\n When Khaleda was moved to a hospital in critical condition in late November, Modi was quick to wish her a speedy recovery. The BNP responded, thanking him for the wishes.<\/p>\n \u201cRahman seems to understand that for him to be a successful prime minister, he needs India\u2019s support \u2013 or, at the least, he doesn\u2019t want India\u2019s antagonism,\u201d said Shringla. \u201cNow, we have to see whether his actions match rhetoric.\u201d<\/p>\n From India\u2019s perspective, Rahman is now \u201csaying all the correct things\u201d, said Sreeradha Datta, a professor specialising in South Asian studies at India\u2019s OP Jindal Global University.<\/p>\n Rahman\u2019s apparent popularity \u2013 hundreds of thousands gathered on the streets of Dhaka to greet him when he arrived from London \u2013 suggests that he could bring a sense of stability in the neighbourhood, Datta told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n Analysts say Rahman also represents the \u201csafest bet\u201d for New Delhi going forward, compared with the Jamaat-led alliance and other political actors in Bangladesh.<\/p>\n \u201cIndia sees the student revolutionaries and the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami as the biggest threats to Indian interests,\u201d said Jon Danilowicz, a former US diplomat who spent eight years working in Bangladesh.<\/p>\n Rahman\u2019s public statements on returning to Dhaka \u201chave shown great maturity\u201d, Danilowicz said.<\/p>\n The pre-poll break between the Jamaat and the BNP also gives New Delhi more confidence in dealing with Rahman, said Michael Kugelman, a South Asia political analyst.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a lot of baggage from the past, in addition to the BNP\u2019s longstanding alliance with Jamaat,\u201d Kugelman told Al Jazeera. \u201cFor India, memories of that alliance die hard.<\/p>\n \u201c[Reaching out to Rahman is] not something that India will do happily, but something that it feels that it will need to do simply by necessity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n But photo-ops, handshakes, letters and sentiments of warmth alone may not be enough to repair bilateral ties.<\/p>\n Rahman\u2019s adviser Kabir cautioned that for a new start, \u201cthere must be a clean break from the past.\u201d<\/p>\n While India has insisted that its relationship is with Bangladesh and not with any party or leader in Dhaka, it was closest with Hasina and her Awami League party.<\/p>\n Unlike Hasina\u2019s time in office, Dhaka was reduced to a \u201cpet dog\u201d of New Delhi, Kabir said. Rahman, if he comes to power, would keep Bangladesh equidistant from regional powers, like India and China, and keep \u201cBangladesh first\u201d,\u00a0Kabir added.<\/p>\n \u201cHasina used India in a bad way to legitimise her own crimes in Bangladesh, so people have a very bitter distaste for India,\u201d Kabir said. He added that the \u201cnew Bangladesh\u201d after the July 2024 revolution sees Hasina as a \u201cterrorist\u201d.<\/p>\n Kabir said Dhaka would continue to press India for Hasina\u2019s extradition if Rahman is elected to power in February. \u201cThe onus to maintain this [bilateral] relationship lies on New Delhi, for keeping Hasina there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Hasina has publicly criticised Bangladesh\u2019s direction under the Yunus government, angering Dhaka. \u201cIndia needs to move on from Hasina\u2019s era and should not be seen complicit with her rogue activities to destabilise Bangladesh, while she sits in India,\u201d Kabir said. Otherwise, he cautioned, \u201cwidespread anti-India distaste among people makes it difficult for the next elected government to engage [with New Delhi] against the popular sentiment.\u201d<\/p>\n Persistent tensions have also played out beyond the worlds of politics and diplomacy in recent days.<\/p>\n On Saturday, India\u2019s cricketing body, which governs the popular Indian Premier League, asked the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise to drop Bangladeshi pacer Mustafizur Rahman after BJP leaders protested the player\u2019s participation.<\/p>\n Anil Trigunayat, a former Indian diplomat who served in Bangladesh for five years, told Al Jazeera that if Rahman returns to power in Dhaka, \u201cIndia\u2019s biggest challenge would be to keep a check on Pakistan and other anti-India militant groups being embedded in Bangladesh.\u201d<\/p>\n Danilowicz said he agreed that India would harbour those concerns \u2013 given the BNP\u2019s past leanings towards Pakistan, when the Jamaat was its ally.<\/p>\n But Kabir, Rahman\u2019s adviser, said the BNP leader was\u00a0focused on \u201cimproving and pushing cooperation\u201d with India and other neighbours.<\/p>\n \u201cThe relationship never existed between India and Bangladesh under Sheikh Hasina; it was just limited to Hasina,\u201d said Kabir. \u201cNow, we need confidence that India means a change of direction and is setting its policy to actually rekindle the relationship between the people of Bangladesh and India.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n New Delhi, India \u2013 Dressed in black for the occasion, India\u2019s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar met Tarique Rahman, son of the deceased former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, with sombre expressions on their faces. Khaleda had passed away the previous day, on December 30, and Jaishankar was among a large group of regional leaders who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"rahman\"](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AFP__20251231__89CL9WF__v2__MidRes__TopshotBangladeshPoliticsZia-1767466712.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80\")
A new start?<\/h2>\n
![\"khaleda](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AFP__20040214__HKG2004010662380__v2__MidRes__PakistanSaarcClosingVajpayeeZia-1767466879.jpg?w=768&resize=768%2C552&quality=80\")
\u2018Mutual mistrust and animosity\u2019<\/h2>\n
![\"rahman\"](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AFP__20251224__88TP4KE__v1__MidRes__FilesBangladeshPoliticsRahman-1767466736.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C520&quality=80\")
\u2018Rahman is safest bet\u2019<\/h2>\n
![\"rahman\"](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AFP__20251225__88ZV6NH__v1__MidRes__BangladeshPoliticsRahman-1767466707.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C514&quality=80\")
\u2018Rekindling people-to-people ties\u2019<\/h2>\n
So what\u2019s next?<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"