Bangladesh’s interim Chief Adviser, Muhammad Yunus, criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for brushing aside Dhaka’s request to curb ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s online speeches, which Yunus claims are provoking anger across Bangladesh.
Speaking at the Chatham House in London during a recent discussion, Yunus recounted an exchange with PM Modi. “When I had the chance to talk to Prime Minister Modi, I simply said you want to host her, I cannot force you to abandon that policy… but please help us in making sure that she doesn’t speak to Bangladeshi people the way she’s doing,” Yunus said, referring to Hasina’s addresses from India.
“She announces that such and such day such and such hour she will speak, and the whole Bangladesh gets very angry. Why is she keeping this whole anger thing inside?”
Yunus said he asked PM Modi to intervene and prevent Hasina from making further statements, to which the Indian Prime Minister reportedly replied, “It’s social media, you cannot control it.” Reacting to the response, Yunus said, “What can you say? It’s an explosive situation, you can’t just walk away saying it’s social media.”
When asked whether India was doing what Bangladesh expected, Yunus responded without hesitation: “No.” He confirmed that Bangladesh had written to the Indian government requesting Hasina’s extradition, and that legal proceedings were already underway.
“The tribunal has started the trial process. They sent notices to Hasina for the crimes she had committed. There are so many other crimes coming up. So they have to respond to such notices. We’re following a legal process. We want it to be legal, very proper. We want to make sure that we don’t do something out of anger,” he added.
Yunus, who took over as interim chief in the wake of Hasina’s ouster in August 2024, emphasised that Bangladesh still seeks a strong bilateral relationship with India.
However, he expressed concern over what he alleged was misinformation being spread through Indian media with suspected links to top policymakers.
“We want to build the best relationship with India, they’re our neighbour. We don’t want to have a basic problem with them. “But somehow things go wrong every time because of all the fake news that is coming from the Indian press and some, many people say has connections with policymakers at the top,” he said.
“This is what makes Bangladesh very jittery, very, very angry. We try to get over this anger. But the whole barrage of things keeps happening in cyberspace we can’t just get away from that. Even if we try to remain peaceful suddenly they say something, do something and the anger comes back. So this is now a big task for us,” Yunus said.
Tensions between India and Bangladesh have continued to rise since Hasina’s removal from power in 2024. After being ousted during mass protests, the former prime minister took refuge in India. Her party, the Awami League, was officially banned in May 2025 by the interim government, which has accused New Delhi of meddling in Bangladesh’s domestic politics.
The situation further escalated when Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) indicted Sheikh Hasina and two others last week on charges including mass murder, linked to the 2024 student-led protest crackdown.
The indictments were followed by Yunus’ announcement that national elections would be held in April 2026, dismissing the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)’s calls for early polls.
“The government has held discussions with all parties to organise the most free, fair, competitive and acceptable elections in history. In addition, after reviewing the ongoing reform activities related to justice, reform and elections, I am announcing to the people of the country today that the next national elections will be held on a day in the first half of April 2026,” Yunus said. This came a week after he had stated in Japan that elections could take place anytime between December 2025 and June 2026.
Bangladesh has been without a permanent elected government since August 2024, following Sheikh Hasina’s exile and the collapse of her administration in the wake of widespread protests against a controversial welfare and tax-exemption scheme for families of soldiers from the country’s 1971 liberation war.
In the midst of these tensions, Yunus and PM Modi exchanged letters on the occasion of Eid-ul-Adha. In his June 6 letter, Yunus acknowledged Modi’s greetings and said the message “reflects the shared values” between the two nations. He also extended his best wishes to the Indian prime minister and the people of India.
