'Protection of Hindus, return of normalcy' stressed in PM Modi's congratulatory message to Bangladesh's Muhammad Yunus

Nobel laureate Yunus took oath as the head of an interim government in Bangladesh. Yunus, 84, was administered the oath of office by President Mohammed Shahabuddin at a ceremony at the presidential palace 'Bangabhaban'.

New Delhi: As Muhammad Yunus took oath as the chief advisor of the interim government in Dhaka on Thursday, New Delhi quickly reached out to him with Prime Minister Narendra Modi extending his best wishes to the economist and conveying to him India’s expectations about the protection of Hindus in Bangladesh.

The interim government took oath in Dhaka just three days after Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government fell in the wake of a mass agitation across Bangladesh against its crackdown on students and youths protesting reservation in government jobs.

“My best wishes to Professor Muhammad Yunus on the assumption of his new responsibilities,” Modi posted on X after the microfinance pioneer, who had won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, and other members of the new interim government were sworn in by Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin in Dhaka.

“We hope for an early return to normalcy,” Modi added in his post on X, conveying India’s concerns over reports of attacks on the minority communities across Bangladesh. He stressed “ensuring the safety and protection of Hindus and all other minority communities” in Bangladesh. “India remains committed to working with Bangladesh to fulfill the shared aspirations of both our peoples for peace, security, and development.”

New Delhi quickly reached out to the new dispensation in Dhaka as the radical elements in Bangladesh had already started taking advantage of the unpopularity of the Awami League and its first family to whip up sentiments against India.

India’s historic relations with the Awami League date back to 1971 when the Liberation War led to the creation of Bangladesh out of East Pakistan.

Hasina, the daughter of Bangladesh’s founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, often drew flak from her political opponents for running a government, which was excessively friendly to New Delhi. The Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh and Bangladesh Nationalist Party often criticized the Awami League government’s acceptance of New Delhi’s request for transit through the neighbouring country to link India’s northeastern states with its mainland.

India’s relations with Bangladesh had been rather strained during the tenure of the erstwhile BNP-led governments headed by its supremo Khaleda Zia.

New Delhi is also concerned about the attacks on the people of minority communities and the vandalisation of their shops and places of worship.

“One thing I would like to emphasize is that as far as we are concerned, the Government of India and the people of India are concerned, for us, the interest of the people of Bangladesh is foremost in our minds,” Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, told journalists in New Delhi in the evening.

Hasina is currently in an undisclosed location in the National Capital Region of India. She stepped down as the prime minister and had flown from Dhaka to Indian Ait Force base in Hindon near New Delhi onboard a military aircraft just hours before her official residence – Gana Bhavan – in the capital of Bangladesh was stormed by protesting mobs.

“As far as former prime minister Sheikh Hasina is concerned, I told you that we don't have an update on her plans. It is for her to take things forward,” said Jaiswal.