Efforts By India And Bangladesh To Patch Up Differences Suffers Setback – Analysis

January 7, 2026 
By P. K. Balachandran

India and Bangladesh were at odds for more than a year since the overthrow of the pro-India government led by Sheikh Hasina in August 2024. However, in December 2025, the two countries seemed to be on the way to patching up. New Delhi offered a hand of friendship to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), an emerging force in Bangladesh, using the passing away of its respected leader, Khaleda Zia, as an occasion to do so.

But the patch-up bid was short lived.

Come January 2026, the two countries have fallen out again because of events in each other’s domestic sphere. Both New Delhi and Dhaka have had to respond to pressures from domestic groups to take tough lines on certain issues. Though the two governments have not gone after each other in the same way as their populations did, there is tension in the air and further moves to strengthen ties have been put on hold.

Murder of Hindus

The serial murder of Hindus in Muslim-majority Bangladesh and harassment of Muslims and vile propaganda about illegal Bangladeshi migration to India are burning issues in the two countries.

According to The Statesman of Kolkata, since December 2025, at least four Hindus were killed in Bangladesh. Rana Pratap, who was the acting editor of a local newspaper, was killed in Kopalia Bazar in Manirampur in Jashore district. A group of men lured him out of an ice factory that he ran in addition to his work as a journalist and shot him in the head at close range.

On December 31, a Hindu businessman, Khokon Das, was set on fire by a mob. A medical shop owner in Shariatpur district was attacked by a mob with sharp weapons while returning home. A day earlier, a Hindu worker, Bajendra Biswas, was shot dead by his colleague in Bhaluka upazila of Mymensingh district.

Amrit Mondal, a known Hindu criminal, was lynched by a mob over allegations of extortion. A particularly gory incident involved Dipu Chandra Das, a garment factory worker in Mymensingh, who was lynched by a mob over allegations of blasphemy. His body was hung upside down and set on fire. Miscreants hacked to death a grocery shop owner at Charsindur Bazar in Palash upazila of Narsingdi. Local traders and the community protested against the murder.

India strongly condemned the attacks. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said – “The unremitting hostility against minorities in Bangladesh is a matter of great concern.” According to the MEA, there had been around 2,900 incidents of violence against minorities during the tenure of Bangladesh’s Interim Government led by Dr.Muhammad Yunus.

The MEA said India has consistently raised concerns over attacks on minorities and rejected what it called a “false narrative” being pushed by Bangladesh on such incidents. The Bangladesh government had said that there was no place for communal hatred or mob violence in what it termed the “New Bangladesh,” and promised strict action against those responsible.

Osama Hadi’s Killing

These incidents had taken place against the backdrop of widespread unrest in Bangladesh following the death of the Islamist political activist Sharif Osman Hadi at the hands of an assassin linked to the banned Awami League’s youth wing, Jubo league.

The killing of Hindus in Bangladesh led to anti-Bangladesh demonstrations in West Bengal and other pats of North India.

Illegal Infiltration

There were calls to identify and expel “Bangladeshi infiltrators” in West Bengal, Assam and other parts of North India. According to Bangladesh newspapers, the Indian border police have pushed into Bangladesh 1670 alleged infiltrators, many of whom were not even Bangladeshi nationals, but Bengali-speaking Indian Muslims.

The West Bengal government led by the Trinamool Congress alleged that the Odisha police had detained Bengali-speaking workers wrongly classifying then as Bangladeshi infiltrators simply because they spoke Bengali.

Meanwhile the Assam Chief Minister Hemanta Biswa Sarma, of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vowed to drive all Bangladeshi infiltrators out of the State. India’s Home Minister Amit Shah has pledged that if the BJP is elected again in Assam, it will clear the state of Bangladeshi infiltrators entirely.

Indian politicians and media have been putting the figure of illegal entrants from Bangladesh in millions though very few Bangladeshi infiltrators have been identified in government surveys conducted for citizenship enumeration and electoral roll purposes..

The description of Bangladesh as basket case from which people are fleeing to a prosperous India is deeply hurting to Bangladeshis, who were progressing economically under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasnia.

A statement issued by the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR), a human rights organisation of West Bengal, on December 1, 2025 said- “The Indian government or the BJP has no moral right to say anything about the oppression of minorities in Bangladesh. Minority Muslims, Christians, and Buddhists are being persecuted continuously in India. Dalits and tribal people are also suffering. Just a few days ago, the Uttar Pradesh police shot dead six people of the minority community in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal. Many Muslim political leaders and social activists including Abu Bakr, Umar Khalid, Gulfisha Fatima, Sharjeel Imam have been put in jail. By taking away OBC reservation, bringing waqf bill, making uniform civil rules, and digging up temples under mosques, many rights of minorities have been or are being taken away. Thousands of minority families have been displaced by bulldozers in Uttar Pradesh and Assam.”

Removal of Bangladesh Cricketer

Attacks on minority Hindus in Bangladesh had sparked calls for the rejection of Bangladeshi pacer Muztafizur Rahman by the Sharukh Khan owned Knight Riders cricket team participating in the IPL tournament. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced its decision to ask KKR let go of Mustafizur Rahman.

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor asked the board not to mix cricket with politics. The Janata Dal (United) leader K.C.Tyagi pointed out that Bangladesh had appointed a Hindu Litton Das as its cricket team’s skipper.

Bangladesh in its reaction banned broadcasts of IPL matches. Bangladesh also asked the ICC to change the T20 World Cup venue from India to a neutral place to ensure the security of its team. The ICCC is believed to have rejected the request. The Bangladesh Cricket Board then formally informed the International Cricket Council of its decision not to send the national team.

P. K. Balachandran is a senior Indian journalist working in Sri Lanka for local and international media and has been writing on South Asian issues for the past 21 years.