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‘Interests of Bangladesh and its people’: PM-elect Tarique Rahman on ties with India
Tarique Rahman made the remarks in his first press conference following the BNP's landslide win in Bangladesh national elections.
Bangladesh's PM-in-waiting Tarique Rahman on Saturday said that the interests of the country and and its people will determine Bangladesh's foreign policy.
“The interests of Bangladesh and its people will determine our foreign policy,” Rahman said when he was asked about Bangladesh's ties with neighbouring India during his first press conference following the BNP's landslide win in national elections held on February 12.
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Rahman's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) secured a decisive two-thirds majority, returning to power after nearly two decades.
The landslide win, announced on Friday, followed months of political and economic uncertainty after the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a Gen Z-led uprising in 2024.
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While improving the economy, law and order and governance remain Rahman's top priority, Bangladesh's ties with India have also been a crucial point in the region, particularly in the light of Sheikh Hasina's exile in New Delhi and India's strong reaction on the increased attacks faced by the minority Hindu community in Bangladesh over the past few months.
Earlier, Rahman's top aide Humayun Kabir said the new BNP government wants to build people-to-people ties with neighbouring India.
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"Obviously there are certain domestic priorities and then international engagements. Of course India will be one of the countries that we will visit among other countries in the region," Kabir was quoted as saying by NDTV.
Criticising former PM Hasina's foreign policy, Kabir said that new government wants to move away from ‘any country-centric foreign policy or country-dependent foreign policy.’
Fresh push for Sheikh Hasina's extradition
In fact, one of the first remarks made by Rahman's party following the big poll win on Friday were about ousted premier Sheikh Hasina's extradition to India.
Shortly after BNP's landslide victory, party's Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed said his party will formally urge India to extradite Hasina to Bangladesh to stand trial.
“The foreign minister has already pursued the matter of her extradition, and we support it,” senior BNP leader Salahuddin Ahmed said, PTI reported.
“We have consistently pressed for her extradition in accordance with the law. This is an issue between the foreign ministries of the two countries. We have also urged the government of India to send her back to face trial in Bangladesh,” he added.
