Dhaka: Bangladesh Sunday said it wants to “reset” its relationship with India and build a new bilateral engagement based on mutual interests, while describing ties during the tenure of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina as “uncomfortable”.
The remarks by State Minister for Foreign Affairs Humaiun Kobir came two days after Bangladesh Thursday said Prime Minister Tarique Rahman would not participate in the BRICS Summit hosted by India as he was not invited to the event, with the invitation instead extended to the BIMSTEC chair.
The two-day BRICS Summit concluded Sunday. India had invited Rahman to attend the summit as chairman of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), while a separate bilateral invitation had been in place since February.
Bangladesh wants to “reset” its bilateral relationship with India, Kobir told reporters here.
“We want to move towards a new relationship, which should be done through bilateral discussions, not through a multilateral forum,” he said.
India-Bangladesh ties have been strained over New Delhi providing refuge to Hasina, who fled to India following her ouster in a youth-led agitation in August 2024.
Kobir said Bangladesh needs to move beyond what he described as an “excessive preoccupation” with India and approach its relationship with New Delhi in a balanced manner, focusing on mutual interests and treating it as part of its broader engagement with other countries.
“We have to get out of the India fascination. India is just another country, and Bangladesh wants good bilateral relations with it,” he said.
Responding to a question, the minister said, “Breakfast in India, lunch in India, dinner in India — then when will you eat your own food?”
Kobir also said Prime Minister Rahman is scheduled to leave for New York September 21 to attend the 81st session of the UN General Assembly and stay there until September 26.
Asked about the possibility of a meeting between Rahman and US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the UNGA, he said such meetings are often decided at the last moment during major international conferences.
“The primary focus of the Prime Minister’s visit is to address the UN General Assembly,” Kobir said, adding that details of the sideline meetings would be known in due course.
