Relations between Bangladesh and India have deteriorated sharply after ousted former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina addressed journalists and supporters via audio link from New Delhi on 5 August, the second anniversary of the student-led uprising that forced her from power. The press conference, held at the Foreign Correspondents Club in New Delhi, marked Hasina's first public appearance before the media since she fled to India in 2024. Bangladesh's Foreign Ministry responded with one of its strongest diplomatic statements toward India since the political transition, describing Hasina as an "absconding convicted genocider" and calling her media appearance "an affront to the sovereignty of Bangladesh and a grievous insult to the martyrs of the July Revolution."
During the event, the 78-year-old Hasina, who governed Bangladesh for 15 years before her government collapsed under the weight of mass protests, dismissed the criminal charges against her — including a death sentence for crimes against humanity related to the crackdown on protesters — as politically motivated. She criticised the current Bangladesh Nationalist Party government led by Tarique Rahman for alleged economic mismanagement and political repression, and vowed to return to Bangladesh in December, saying: "Whatever fate awaits me, I will return to my people. They may put me in a cell. They may kill me. Anything may happen, but I still have to go." Her son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, drew further diplomatic ire by publicly praising India's hospitality, stating that the Modi government had shown Hasina "the utmost respect" and provided her with "the full services and security accorded to a head of state."
India moved quickly to distance itself from the event, with its External Affairs Ministry describing it as an initiative by a "private media entity" and stressing that the government had no involvement in organising it and would not endorse any political views expressed. Officials in New Delhi maintained that position after Bangladesh's outraged response, framing the exchanges between Hasina, the Awami League, and the current Bangladeshi government as matters for the two sides to resolve without Indian interference. Bangladesh, however, countered that it had warned New Delhi in advance about the likely consequences of allowing the programme to proceed — and that India permitted it regardless, linking the episode to India's failure to respond to repeated extradition requests under the 2013 Extradition Treaty between the two countries.
The incident carries significance beyond the immediate diplomatic row. Bangladesh's Foreign Ministry statement notably used the phrase "July Revolution" — rather than the more common "July Uprising" — to describe the 2024 events, a terminological choice that signals Dhaka is framing the political transition as a foundational moment in the country's modern statehood rather than merely a domestic episode. More striking still was the ministry's warning that "Bangladesh will never be a client State," a phrase rarely found in official diplomatic communications and one that critics of Hasina's government had long associated with her perceived closeness to New Delhi. The cumulative effect of the language suggests that Bangladesh is staking out a more assertive foreign policy identity grounded in what it describes as sovereign equality and non-interference.
The crisis has already cast a shadow over practical diplomacy: Bangladesh has yet to confirm whether Prime Minister Tarique Rahman will travel to India for the BRICS summit, to which he has reportedly been invited. Meanwhile, the night of the press conference saw petrol bombs thrown and windows smashed at the home of former Bangladesh cricket captain Shakib Al Hasan, who had appeared via video link at Hasina's event, though no one was reported hurt. Analysts suggest that while trade, border management and security cooperation between the two neighbours are likely to continue given their interlocking strategic interests, the political relationship has entered a distinctly more difficult phase — one in which the unresolved question of Sheikh Hasina's future sits at the very centre of bilateral trust.