The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) dismissed as “misplaced” the charges made by Bangladesh’s Interim Government that Awami League-linked activities were being run from Indian territory.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal clarified: “The Government does not allow political activities against other countries to be carried out from Indian soil. We are not aware of any anti-Bangladesh activities by purported members of the Awami League in India or of any action contrary to Indian law.”
The response came after Dhaka claimed that offices of the Awami League, the party of exiled Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, were operating in New Delhi and Kolkata. The Bangladesh Foreign Ministry demanded that India take “immediate steps” to shut them down.
In a statement earlier, the Bangladesh Interim Government alleged that Awami League workers living in India, legally or illegally, were carrying out political campaigns hostile to Dhaka’s interests. It described the activities as “an unambiguous affront against the people and State of Bangladesh.”
The Interim Government, formed after student-led protests ousted Sheikh Hasina in 2024, has often accused the Awami League of trying to regroup abroad. Hasina has been living in exile in India since then.
Notably, Bangladesh itself has a long history of being accused of allowing anti-India elements to operate from its territory.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, separatist insurgents from Assam, Tripura, and Meghalaya were known to maintain camps inside Bangladesh with tacit local support, as documented in Indian intelligence assessments and studies like Bertil Lintner’s Great Game East (2012).
Islamist groups such as HuJI-B (Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami Bangladesh) have also been accused of plotting terror strikes in India while enjoying safe havens across the border.
In May 2025, retired Bangladeshi Major General A.L.M. Fazlur Rahman even suggested that Dhaka should align with China and Pakistan to occupy seven Indian Northeast states if a conflict broke out.
India has consistently stressed its neutrality in Bangladesh’s internal politics while urging the Interim Government to ensure “free, fair, and credible elections.”
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