In Thailand, PM Modi Meets Bangladesh's Yunus For First Time Since Sheikh Hasina's Ouster
PM Modi met Bangladesh Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus on Friday. The two leaders met on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok, Thailand.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Bangladesh's interim government's chief adviser Muhammad Yunus in Thailand for the first time since the ouster of former PM Sheikh Hasina. The two leaders met during the ongoing BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok.
#WATCH | PM Narendra Modi and Bangladesh Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus hold a meeting in Bangkok, Thailand pic.twitter.com/4POheM34JJ
— ANI (@ANI) April 4, 2025
On Thursday evening, PM Modi and Yunus were also seen sitting together at a dinner hostedat the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) in Bangkok.
PM Modi and Yunus spoke over phone in August last year after the crisis broke out following Hasina's ouster. During the call, PM Modi invited Yunus to attend the Global South Summit 2024, which was hosted by New Delhi on August 17.
Yunus had assured Modi that he will ensure the "protection, safety and security of Hindus and all minorities in Bangladesh" as attacks on Hindu minorities were on a rise in Bangladesh.
PM Modi had landed in Bangkok on a visit to Thailand to participate in the 6th BIMSTEC Summit on Thursday morning. He was received by Thailand Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra. He also met Myanmar's junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who participated in the BIMSTEC Summit as his country grapples with the massive loss of lives and damage of property due to the strong 7.7 earthquake.
"BIMSTEC is an important forum to further global good. It is imperative we strengthen it and deepen our engagement. In this context, I proposed a 21-point Action Plan covering different aspects of our cooperation," PM Modi stated in a post on X.
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PM Modi Meets Yunus Amid Row Over Northeast 'Landlocked' Remark
The meeting comes amid heightened tensions in bilateral relations between New Delhi and Dhaka following Hasina's ouster on August 5 last year and the Nobel laureate taking charge of the interim government.
The tensions increased after instances of violence targeting Hindu minorities in Bangladesh surfaced after the Awami League-led government was overthrown, and India granted asylum to Hasina.
The recent escalation in tensions between India and Bangladesh came after Yunu's "landlocked" comment on India's northeastern states during his four-day China visit.
Yunus had called Bangladesh the "only guardian of the ocean" during the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) annual conference, inviting China to take advantage of the opportunity and set up an economic base there.
"The seven states of India, the eastern part of India, are called the seven sisters. They are a landlocked region of India. They have no way to reach out to the ocean," Yunus said.
On Wednesday, Yunu's office issued a clarification on his remarks, stressing they had been made with "honest intentions", but had been interpreted wrongly.
Last week, PM Modi had also written to Yunus on the occasion of Bangladesh National Day to extend his felicitations. He underlined the significance of working together on the basis of mutual sensitivity to each other's concerns and interests.
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