‘Immature and Counterproductive’: Sheikh Hasina Calls Out Bangladesh PM for Skipping BRICS Summit
Sheikh Hasina is not happy with Tarique Rahman. In fact, she’s pretty blunt about it. In an interview she gave to PTI, the former Bangladesh prime minister said Rahman’s decision to skip the BRICS Summit in New Delhi last month was immature and ended up hurting the country’s own interests. The summit happened on 12 and 13 September in New Delhi. India had invited Rahman because Bangladesh currently chairs BIMSTEC. He didn’t go. Bangladesh’s side said the invitation was only for the BIMSTEC chair, not for the prime minister as such, and that they preferred to sort out things with India bilaterally first. Hasina doesn’t buy that explanation. “It was deeply unfortunate that Bangladesh chose not to participate,” she said. “In my view, it was an immature decision and one that did not serve Bangladesh’s national interest.” She went on to explain that BRICS isn’t just another talking shop. It’s a group of big emerging economies where countries can talk trade, investment, infrastructure, technology—the kind of things that actually help a country grow. Bangladesh could have picked up useful experience and maybe opened a few new doors. That chance, she said, is gone now. She was clear that foreign policy shouldn’t be run on personal feelings or short-term political scores. “A responsible government should open doors for the country, not close them,” she said. That’s the line that keeps coming up. Hasina also addressed the elephant in the room—her own presence in New Delhi. She’s been living there since her government fell in August 2024. Some people suggest Rahman stayed away because she is in India. She called that idea very unfortunate. “Relations between two countries cannot be determined by personal considerations or political sensitivities involving one individual,” she said. Then she brought up history to make her point. After her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was killed in 1975, Ziaur Rahman (Tarique’s father) took power. Yet when Ziaur came to Delhi in 1979, Hasina was already living there. When he went to London in 1980, she was in London too. “My presence in either city did not prevent him from travelling there,” she said. “So why should my presence in Delhi prevent Ziaur Rahman’s son, Tarique Rahman, from coming to India today? What is the real reason behind such a decision?” She used the moment to talk about how she handled foreign policy when she was in power. Bangladesh kept good relations with India and still worked with China, Russia, Japan, the US, Europe and others. “Friendship with one country never required hostility towards another,” she said. The country needs a mature, balanced, confident foreign policy, she added—one that opens doors instead of slamming them shut. Hasina didn’t stop at the summit. She painted a pretty dark picture of what’s happening inside Bangladesh right now. She called it a grave national crisis. Democratic space has been closed, she said. The judiciary is being used for political revenge. Media freedom is restricted. Law and order have weakened. Minorities feel unsafe. Extremists have more room than before. The economy is suffering. One of the biggest political parties has been banned, its leaders are in jail or hiding, and millions of supporters can’t take part in normal politics. “This is no longer only an Awami League issue. It is a national crisis,” she said. You can’t stabilise a country by shutting out such a large part of the population. She also spoke about returning to Bangladesh. She knows the risks—there’s a death sentence hanging over her from a Bangladeshi court—but she said personal safety isn’t the biggest worry. She’s faced death before, starting with the 1975 killings of her family, later assassination attempts, and time in prison. What bothers her more is what she sees as the collapse of justice. A death sentence given without a real chance to defend yourself isn’t justice, she said. Her return, she claimed, is about restoring democracy, voting rights and the rule of law. She wants ordinary people to be able to decide their future through a free and fair election. All of this comes while India-Bangladesh relations are already tense. Dhaka keeps asking for Hasina’s extradition. India has said Rahman was invited both for a bilateral visit and for the BRICS outreach as BIMSTEC chair. Still, no senior Bangladeshi leader showed up for the summit, and the home minister also skipped a BIMSTEC meeting in Delhi more recently. Hasina’s interview is her latest public shot from exile. Whether it changes anything in Dhaka is another question. What she’s saying, in plain words, is that skipping BRICS cost Bangladesh more than it gained, and that letting personal or short-term politics decide foreign policy is a bad idea for the country. Sources:PTI interview with Sheikh Hasina, reported on 14 October 2026 by The Tribune, Moneycontrol, India Today, India TV, CNBC-TV18 and other outlets.@Rohit Manral
After brief disruption, officials restart talks for Bangladesh PM Tarique Rahman’s India visit
New Delhi and Dhaka have quietly got the conversation going again. After a few weeks of frost that followed Sheikh Hasina’s virtual press conference from somewhere in India in early August, officials on both sides are back at the table, working out the details of a possible visit by Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to India. Diplomatic sources say the two sides are aiming for a suitable window in November. Rahman is due in New York later this month for the United Nations General Assembly. After that he has a string of other engagements lined up through October and into November. The idea is to slot the India trip into a gap that works for both capitals once those are done. Indian High Commissioner Dinesh Trivedi has been busy in Dhaka over the past few days. He has met Water Resources Minister Mohammed Shahiduddin Chowdhury Anee and Education Adviser Mahdi Amin, among others. Officials from both countries have continued meeting in the Bangladeshi capital and are putting together an agenda. Top of the list are ways to regularise bilateral trade, which has taken a hit because of the earlier political uncertainty, and questions around the renewal of the Ganga Water Treaty. That treaty runs out in December, so the clock is ticking. This is not the first time a visit has been talked about. India invited Rahman for a bilateral trip soon after he took office in February following the BNP’s election win. There was also a separate invitation for him to attend the recent BRICS summit in New Delhi as chair of BIMSTEC. Bangladesh chose not to send anyone to that meeting. State Minister for Foreign Affairs Humayun Kobir made it plain that Dhaka wants to reset the relationship through a proper bilateral visit at a moment that feels right, rather than starting on the sidelines of a multilateral event. The August disruption was sharp. Hasina’s press interaction from Indian soil, marking two years since she left power, triggered strong reactions in Bangladesh. Dhaka said the atmosphere had been spoiled and that a more favourable environment was needed before any high-level trip could go ahead. There were also repeated calls from the Bangladeshi side for progress on extradition requests involving Hasina and others. India has maintained that those are legal matters that will be handled through established processes. Despite the earlier friction, the practical work has not stopped. Trade and connectivity remain important for both countries. Bangladesh faces pressure on energy and other supplies, and India has previously indicated readiness to discuss soft loans, easing of certain trade and transit restrictions, and other practical steps. The Ganga waters issue is particularly time-sensitive. Officials know that letting the treaty simply lapse would create fresh problems for farmers and communities on both sides of the border. Rahman has already travelled to Malaysia and China since becoming prime minister. India was traditionally the first stop for new Bangladeshi leaders, but the political changes after 2024 shifted that pattern. Now both sides appear to recognise that prolonged distance serves neither. People who deal with these files say the conversations in Dhaka are focused on concrete outcomes rather than symbolism alone. Rahman is understood to want clear takeaways he can present back home, whether on trade normalisation, visa facilitation, land-port usage, or water sharing. The Indian side has kept the invitation open. High Commissioner Trivedi’s recent meetings are being read as a signal that New Delhi is ready to move whenever Dhaka is. Sources in Dhaka confirm that efforts are under way to find that November window after Rahman’s other commitments are cleared. Of course, nothing is locked in yet. Schedules can shift, and domestic political pressures in both countries can still intervene. Anti-India sentiment exists in sections of Bangladeshi public opinion, and any visit will be watched closely for what it delivers. At the same time, the economic and geographic realities of the neighbourhood pull both capitals toward engagement. Trade that once flowed more freely, water that both sides depend on, and people who move across the border for work and family all create daily reasons to keep talking. For now, the officials are doing exactly that. Meetings continue in Dhaka. An agenda is being shaped around trade, water and other practical matters. Rahman heads to New York first, then turns to the rest of his autumn calendar. Somewhere in the weeks that follow, if the timing falls right and the agenda looks solid enough, the long-discussed India visit may finally take place. It has been a careful, stop-start process. The brief disruption after August is behind them for the moment. The talks have restarted, the issues are on the table, and both sides appear to be looking for a workable date rather than an open-ended delay. Whether November works will depend on the fine print still being negotiated, but the willingness to sit down and sort it out is back on display. Sources:The Hindu (Kallol Bhattacherjee, 17 September 2026)The Business Standard (18 September 2026)India Today, bdnews24.com, Daily Sun and other reports on the BRICS invitation and earlier positions of both governments. @Rohit Manral