Tarique Rahman should not visit India without a meaningful agenda: John F. Danilovich

South Asian geopolitical analyst Mr. John F. Danilovich has said that Bangladesh Prime Minister Mr. Tarique Rahman should not visit India without a meaningful agenda for discussion. A retired diplomat of the US State Department, Mr. Danilovich once served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Bangladesh. He said India had decided to provide all-out support to Sheikh Hasina, and that continued until the very end, when it had become clear that Delhi supported Hasina remaining in power. Mr. Danilovich made the remarks in an interview with the YouTube channel of US-based journalist Mr. Kanak Sarwar.

Towards the end, India was effectively the only country that supported Hasina, he said, adding that India later also provided her with shelter. Not only Hasina, but also some of her close associates and fellow fugitives have taken shelter in India, he added. “Providing them shelter is one matter; allowing them to continue activities aimed at destabilizing Bangladesh is an entirely different matter,” Mr. Danilovich said. “Truthfully, India has paid a price for this. The people of Bangladesh have remembered India’s role in supporting the Hasina government. Therefore, Bangladesh’s Prime Minister should not visit India without a specific and meaningful agenda,” he said.

Regarding India’s pressure on the government and Sheikh Hasina’s stay in India, Mr. Danilovich said, “I have written and spoken a lot about this over the past few years. I also remember the period before my assignment in Dhaka. In many discussions with Indian diplomats, I tried to find common ground where the interests of the United States and India could converge regarding Bangladesh’s future.” “Even then, I saw that India’s policy was excessively centered on the Awami League and Sheikh Hasina. I used to tell my Indian colleagues that they needed to adopt a more balanced approach towards Bangladesh,” he said.

Mr. Danilovich said it was difficult for him to understand why India continued this policy even during the interim government. “Professor Yunus and others had tried to communicate with India and make an effort to restart relations, but those efforts were rejected. At the United Nations General Assembly, Prime Minister Mr. Modi refused to meet Professor Yunus. Attempts by Bangladesh to establish communication were also repeatedly rejected,” he said.

At one point, India decided to wait until the election, Mr. Danilovich said. “Towards the end, I believe it had become clear that their preference was for the BNP to come to power,” he added.

After the election, all signs indicated that India was interested in working with the BNP government and viewed it as the best possibility for advancing its own interests, he said. “There were high-level visits from both sides, and everything was moving towards restarting relations,” Mr. Danilovich said. “Then, inexplicably to me, on August 5, an Indian institution allowed Sheikh Hasina and her party to hold a press conference in India at exactly the time when Bangladesh was remembering and mourning the sacrifices of those killed in the summer of 2024,” he said.

Mr. Danilovich described the move as insensitive and said it was certainly an attempt to destabilize the situation in Bangladesh. “The Bangladesh government had warned the Indian authorities about the possible consequences. Despite this, the event was allowed to take place and Sheikh Hasina participated in it. Now they are dealing with the consequences,” he said.

Mr. Danilovich said he had repeatedly pointed out that what amazed him was that India was acting against its own interests on the Bangladesh issue. “An ecosystem has been created involving the ruling BJP and its ally RSS, former officials active in the media, and individuals active online, who spread false and misleading information about Bangladesh. It has a real impact,” he said.

He added, “I see many former Indian officials, former high commissioners, former generals and politicians going on Indian television and telling lies about Bangladesh or making statements that are demonstrably untrue.” “There are two possibilities: they are lying, which is bad; or perhaps even worse, they are so ignorant about what is happening,” Mr. Danilovich said.

He further said they might also be doing this for domestic political purposes in India. “There were state elections in West Bengal and Assam, and the BJP certainly played the anti-Bangladesh, anti-Muslim and anti-immigration card in its election campaign,” he said.

Mr. Danilovich added that irresponsible media outlets might also simply be trying to attract viewers. “The more sensationalism they create, the more viewers they may get. But the reality is that these things do not represent the truth,” he said.

Regarding discussions over Prime Minister Mr. Tarique Rahman’s visit, Mr. Danilovich said he could understand why India would want him to visit in the first place. “That is normal in diplomacy. Most countries attach considerable importance to high-level visits in their relations with other countries. A visit by a head of state or head of government can be very significant,” he said.

However, he added that he believed Mr. Tarique Rahman and his government had consciously sought to demonstrate that they would pursue a more balanced foreign policy. “The idea of ‘Bangladesh First’ means that Bangladesh’s interests will not be subordinated to those of any one country, particularly India, following the experience of the Hasina era,” he said.