Analysis and commentary on Bangladesh's political economy, foreign policy, and strategic affairs.
For 15 years, India managed Bangladesh through Sheikh Hasina. That era is over. New Delhi must now choose between treating Bangladesh as an equal partner or accelerating its loss of influence in the region.
When Bangladeshi citizens need EU visas, many must travel to New Delhi — a symbolic indignity that reflects broader EU-Bangladesh relationship failures. As LDC graduation approaches, Bangladesh must demand treatment as an independent nation, not an India appendage.
Major global powers have historically viewed Bangladesh not as an independent actor but through an 'India lens' — treating Dhaka as a subset of Delhi policy. This prism distorts how Washington, Tokyo, Moscow, and Brussels engage with a nation of 170 million, but post-August 2024 dynamics are forcing a recalibration.
Moscow 'generally defers to Delhi on matters concerning its neighbors' — a pattern so pronounced that no Soviet/Russian foreign minister visited Bangladesh until 2023, 52 years after independence. The Rooppur nuclear plant exemplifies this triangulated relationship.
The 2025 shift in US policy from treating Bangladesh as a subset of India policy to engaging Dhaka on its own terms represents a potential paradigm shift — but whether it survives the next administration remains uncertain.
A policy alternative exists: India as 'well-wisher' rather than 'big brother'—pursuing genuine partnership that serves both nations' interests rather than Indian dominance.
India's Bangladesh policy is driven by short-term electoral calculations—Hindu persecution narratives, anti-Bangladesh rhetoric, and support for a controllable ally—at catastrophic cost to India's long-term strategic interests.
An analysis of how New Delhi's policy of providing refuge to individuals wanted in Bangladesh is fundamentally reshaping bilateral dynamics and regional security architecture.
Analysis of why India's approach to Bangladesh will differ fundamentally from Russia's Ukraine invasion—and the destabilization methods Dhaka should prepare to counter.