Hasina blasts Bangladesh PM for skipping BRICS summit — SkimNews
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Sheikh Hasina called Tarique Rahman's decision to skip the September 12–13 BRICS summit in New Delhi "immature" and said it damaged Bangladesh's national interest, arguing the country lost trade, investment and development opportunities.
- Hasina suggested the boycott was driven by personal feeling rather than strategy, noting that Ziaur Rahman visited Delhi in 1979 even when she was living there — "so why should my presence in Delhi prevent Ziaur Rahman's son from coming to India today?"
- India had extended its invitation to Rahman in his capacity as current BIMSTEC chair, and Hasina stressed that "relations between two countries cannot be determined by personal considerations… involving one individual."
- Hasina warned that the Rahman government is using one bilateral relationship against another, saying "anti-India rhetoric is encouraged for domestic politics" and that Bangladesh needs a "mature, balanced and confident foreign policy."
- Hasina described Bangladesh as being in a "grave national crisis," citing a banned Awami League, jailed leaders, restricted media freedom, a judiciary "used for political revenge" and minorities who "feel unsafe."
- Tensions between New Delhi and Dhaka spiked after a Hasina virtual media interaction in New Delhi on August 5; Dhaka renewed its demand for her extradition and linked it to Rahman's planned India trip, prompting India to distance itself.
- Hasina said she intends to return to Bangladesh to restore democracy despite a death sentence from a Bangladeshi court, framing her return as part of a struggle for "voting rights and the rule of law."
Why it matters: The rebuke widens a diplomatic breach between Dhaka and New Delhi at the exact moment Bangladesh is demanding Hasina's extradition from India, while Hasina's parallel attacks on a banned Awami League, restricted media and politically driven death sentences position her exile as the organizing platform for an opposition challenge to the Rahman government from Indian soil.
Ask SkimNews
