India is pursuing a “see no evil, speak no evil, and hear no evil” policy regarding political developments in Bangladesh, particularly concerning exiled leader Sheikh Hasina and the Awami League.

India’s strategy towards Bangladesh’s crisis is one of deliberate inaction and silence, especially on the presence of Sheikh Hasina and key Awami League leaders exiled in India. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) first reported that an office of the Awami League has been established in the neighboring state capital of Kolkata. Recently, ThePrint, an Indian analytical news portal, published a damning report of exiled top Awami League leaders residing in Kolkata in rented apartments.

“India is pursuing a ‘see no evil, speak no evil, and hear no evil’ policy regarding political developments in Bangladesh.”

ThePrint interviewed several senior leaders and a former junior minister, exposing that top party leaders board flights from Kolkata to Delhi and return, presumably to seek advice from the ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her top aides, who live in Delhi. The aides are said to be in Delhi to implement Hasina’s advice on the implementation of her agenda through leaders and sympathizers living in several countries. Most of them live in Australia, Britain, Canada, Europe, and the United States.

Their agenda is to destabilize the Interim Government, meticulously organize propaganda on social media, and also petition the government of the country, they live. Their agenda is simple: Prof Muhammad Yunus, Chief Advisor of the Interim Government, is “illegally” usurping power and forcing Hasina to go into exile in India. Also, plan to bring back the Awami League to power, and reinstall Hasina as the supremo.

The Awami League party is in shambles, and leaders and members are demoralized after Hasina’s regime was toppled by millions of Gen Z, the fiery students, said Rakib Al Hasan, Executive Director of a think-tank, the Center for Partnership Initiative.

ThePrint portal wrote that roughly 1,300 former ministers and the top and middle rung leaders of the Awami League, its youth wing Jubo League, and its students’ wing Bangladesh Chhatra League, have been in exile in India and other parts of the world since August last year.

Most of the senior leaders have been listed as fugitives by various courts in Bangladesh for their complicity in crimes against humanity. The law enforcement has declared them absconding. Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Foreign Affairs Ministry, in a formal communication, has urged Delhi to take immediate steps to shut down the political offices of the outlawed Bangladesh Awami League, said to have been established in New Delhi and Kolkata.

“Bangladesh urged Delhi to shut down political offices of the outlawed Awami League established in New Delhi and Kolkata.”

“Any form of political activity campaigning against the interests of Bangladesh by Bangladeshi nationals, particularly by the absconding leaders/activists of a banned political party, staying on Indian soil, legally or illegally, including the establishment of offices, is an unambiguous affront against the people and State of Bangladesh,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The statement warned that “this development also risks upholding the good-neighborly relations with India driven by mutual trust and respect, and lends serious implications for the political transformation underway in Bangladesh.”

The Foreign Ministry cautioned that the issue “might also trigger public sentiment in Bangladesh, which may in turn impact the ongoing efforts of the two countries in further enhancing the relationship between the two closest neighbors.” The ministry said many senior leaders of the banned party, “absconding in several criminal cases in Bangladesh on account of grievous crimes committed against humanity, remain in the Indian territory.”

Rakib Al Hasan further added that political activities from exiled members of the Awami League would be tantamount to an anti-Bangladesh conspiracy, which would jeopardize the friendly relations between the two neighbors. Bangladesh leader Prof Yunus is committed to continuing the longstanding relations between Dhaka and Delhi. He frankly communicated his mind to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their sideline meeting at the BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok last April.

On the other hand, the Bangladesh Election Commission has suspended the registration of Hasina’s political party, Awami League, barring its participation in future polls, a decision described as “concerning” by India. Delhi is perturbed by the restriction of Awami League, the oldest political party in Bangladesh, which led the country’s independence war in 1971. “The ban on the Awami League is a concerning development,”

Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said in a regular briefing to reporters in New Delhi. “We (India) strongly support the holding of free, fair, and inclusive elections in Bangladesh.” Remember, Hasina held three elections in 2014, 2018, and 2024 sans opposition. The international human rights groups and the local media described the election as a sham. Not to anyone’s surprise, the Indian PM Modi was the first to congratulate Hasina for being reelected as Prime Minister in the farcical elections.

“The International Crimes Tribunal in Dhaka has convicted Hasina, who faces trial on charges of crimes against humanity.”

Now Delhi urges that Bangladesh should hold free, fair, and inclusive elections expected coming February next year. “The [Bangladesh] home ministry has imposed a ban on all sorts of organizational activities of the Bangladesh Awami League and the organizations aligned with it,” Jaiswal expressed his government’s concern. However, Delhi has not officially communicated to Dhaka regarding its concern about the restriction of party activities.

Bangladesh held the Awami League responsible for the crimes against humanity committed against the protesters and also urged that ousted Hasina should be extradited from India for proven forensic evidence of her complicity in ordering law enforcement officers to shoot and kill the students.

According to the United Nations human rights commission, up to 1,400 protesters died in July-August 2024, when Hasina’s government launched a brutal campaign to silence the opposition. Nobel laureate Yunus has stated that they do not have plans to ban the Awami League, but individuals within its leadership crimes against humanity will face trial in the country’s courts. The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Dhaka has convicted Hasina, and she is currently on trial on charges of crimes against humanity.

Professor Yunus also stated that his government has not ruled out referring Awami League top leaders, including ousted Sheikh Hasina, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Kamal, party’s general secretary Obaidul Quader, and others, to the International Criminal Court in The Hague following a UN fact-finding mission report on potential crimes committed during the July uprising. India is conspicuously silent over Bangladesh regarding the extradition of Sheikh Hasina.

Recently, an Indian politician, Asaduddin Owaisi, said if the Indian government wants to deport “illegal Bangladeshis” from India, it should begin by sending back former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Owaisi is the chief of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and a lawmaker from Hyderabad, told the Indian Express that India should “accept the popular revolution” that took place in Bangladesh, which overthrew Hasina on 5 August 2024, and work towards good relations with Bangladesh’s current regime.

India has one Bangladeshi (Hasina) living in our country and creating problems by giving statements and speeches, and then we have these poor Bangla–speaking Indian Muslims who were forcibly packed in a military aircraft and then dumped in no-man’s land, Owaisi said, referring to recent incidents where Bangla-speaking residents were deported without verification.

“Since May 2025, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – led government has intensified operations to expel ethnic Bangalee Muslims to Bangladesh, ostensibly to deter people from entering India without legal authorization. The government should stop unlawfully deporting people without due process and instead ensure everyone’s access to procedural safeguards to protect against arbitrary detention and expulsion,” said the Human Rights Watch (HRW) report on 24 July.

“Ambassador Humayun Kabir remarked that India is leveraging religion and democracy as tools while ignoring Dhaka’s requests.”

Nevertheless, the Indian government has provided no official data on the number of people expelled, but Border Guard Bangladesh has reported that India expelled more than 1,500 Muslim men, women, and children to Bangladesh between 7 May and 15 June, including about 100 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, the HRW said.

Ambassador Humayun Kabir remarked that India is leveraging religion and democracy as tools while ignoring Dhaka’s requests to extradite Hasina and shut down Awami League offices. This silence raises serious questions about the true direction of India’s Bangladesh policy and its implications for bilateral relations. The Ambassador said he does not know where the path of the two countries will meet and asks whether the Indian foreign policy in South Asia is failing!

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. They do not represent the views, beliefs, or policies of the Stratheia.