Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters
The Government has no “involvement” in the press conference to be addressed by Bangladesh’s deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC) on Wednesday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Tuesday (August 4, 2026).
Speaking at the Ministry’s biweekly press briefing, MEA official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the event is being organised by a “private media entity”.
India’s response came a day after Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Humayun Kobir met Indian High Commissioner Dinesh Trivedi at the Prime Minister’s Office in Dhaka and cautioned that continued political activities by Ms. Hasina on Indian territory could “harm” bilateral ties.
“The interaction you refer to is being organised by a private media entity. The government has no involvement whatsoever in it. Neither does it endorse any views that may be expressed at the forum,” said Mr. Jaiswal in response to a question.
“Exclusive interactive session”
On Sunday (August 2, 2026), FCC president Dr. Waiel Awwad said Ms. Hasina would announce her plans to return to Bangladesh during the “exclusive interactive session” and answer a few questions from the media. Ms. Hasina has been based in India since fleeing Dhaka following a violent student-led uprising that toppled her government on August 5, 2024.
Following his meeting with Mr. Trivedi on Monday (August 3, 2026), Mr. Kobir said that “such activities” could “harm positive progress of bilateral relations between the two countries”.
India had earlier invited Mr. Rahman to participate in the upcoming BRICS summit. However, Bangladesh has not yet confirmed Mr. Rahman’s participation in the event, with diplomatic sources indicating that Dhaka has not appreciated the fact that the BRICS invitation was extended to Mr. Rahman in his capacity as the current Chair of BIMSTEC and not as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh.
Mr. Jaiswal, however, clarified that Mr. Rahman already has an invitation for a bilateral visit to India in his capacity as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh. The invitation was extended soon after he was sworn in on February 17.
“As far as the BRICS summit is concerned, India has separately extended an invitation to the Bangladesh PM in his capacity as the current Chair of BIMSTEC to attend the outreach session of the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi. The invitation has been extended as per the standard practice being followed in BRICS for the outreach sessions,” said Mr. Jaiswal.
Diplomatic sources in Dhaka, however, said the controversy concerning Ms. Hasina’s press conference has ‘snowballed’ into a tense situation. A high-level diplomatic source in Dhaka said the announcement of Ms. Hasina’s press event had come even as Bangladesh was processing the invitation to the BRICS summit. “There will definitely be an impact,” said the source.
In a notification issued on Tuesday, the Press Information Department of the Government of Bangladesh urged media organisations in the country not to provide a platform for Ms. Hasina’s remarks. The notification referred to the death sentence pronounced against Ms. Hasina last year by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), a special court in Dhaka. It said the Bangladesh Government had observed that “unfortunately”, some news organisations were giving space to reports concerning Ms. Hasina and her party, the Awami League.
The party was formally banned by the Tarique Rahman government through an amendment to an anti-terrorism act in April 2026. Earlier, the interim government led by Mohammed Yunus had banned political activities of the Awami League and its student wing, the Chhatra League, during its August 2024-February 2026 tenure.
Published – August 04, 2026 10:15 pm IST
