Rohit Kumar
NEW DELHI, Feb 14: The Bangladesh Prime Minister-in-waiting Tarique Rahman on Saturday said the interests of the country and its people would determine his country’s foreign policy with his close aide saying that the BNP government would want to build people-to-people ties with neighboring India and strengthen bilateral relationship through trade and investments.
Humayun Kabir, who handles international relations for Rahman and is set to be a key official in the new regime, said the priority was to build a “stronger cooperation among our people.” He said India would be one of the countries that “we will visit,” though he did not give a definite time.
“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 said. “It is normal to have relations both ways in terms of bilateral visits to India and Indian government, senior government officials visiting Bangladesh. But what we want is to broaden the net of that relationship to people across the board, not limited,” he said.
Bangladesh was seen to be inclined towards Pakistan, at the cost of India, while under the care of the interim administration of Muhammad Yunus. To a question on this matter, Kabir gave a measured reply: “I think it’s normal and we need to normalize relations in the region and regardless of the tensions between India and Pakistan, for us it is not to take sides on this issue.” “We will have relationships on the basis of mutual respect and national interest,” he said.
He faulted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina for maintaining what he claimed was an opaque foreign policy. “It was just a one-way relationship between India and Sheikh Hasina, people saw that in a very bad light. We want to move away from any country-centric foreign policy or country-dependent foreign policy,” Kabir said.
India is weighing its next steps with cautious optimism after the decisive electoral verdict in Bangladesh that handed a landslide victory to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), ending a turbulent interim phase and reopening the door for a diplomatic reset between New Delhi and Dhaka. From New Delhi’s strategic perspective, the election outcome marks a clear break from the interim administration led by Muhammad Yunus, a phase Indian officials privately describe as deeply disruptive.
The focus now shifts to Rahman, whom Indian officials describe as someone they are “cautiously optimistic” about. While acknowledging past differences with BNP governments, New Delhi believes Rahman may take a more pragmatic diplomatic and political approach, driven by economic realities and regional stability considerations.
Addressing his first press conference after his party’s landslide win on Saturday, Mr Rahman said “The interests of Bangladesh and its people will determine our foreign policy.”
While improving the economy, law and order and governance would remain his government’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.
Mr Rahman called for unity and dedicated the party’s win to those who ‘scarified for democracy.’ “This victory belongs to Bangladesh. This victory belongs to democracy. This victory belongs to the people who aspire to and have sacrificed for democracy. From today, we are all free, with the true essence of freedom and rights restored,” Rahman said.
“With your spontaneous participation, after more than one and a half decades, a parliament and government accountable to the people through direct voting are being re-established in the country,” Rahman said, as he asked people to stand united “to ensure that no evil force can re-establish autocracy in the country, and that the nation is not turned into a subservient state.”
The elections were crucial for Bangladesh as the polls were held for the first time since the ouster of former premier Sheikh Hasina in the student-led uprising of July 2024. Hasina’ party, Awami League, was barred from taking part in the elections.
“I congratulate the people of Bangladesh. By overcoming all obstacles, you have paved the way for the establishment of democracy in the country,” Rahman said in the press conference.
Rahman returned home in Dhaka in December 2025 after almost 17 years of self-imposed exile in London. Days later, his ailing mother and former prime minister Khaleda Zia passed away. Now, Rahman is set to become the prime minister of Bangladesh, and will be the first male prime minister of Bangladesh since 1991.
Bangladesh is also set to implement constitutional reforms proposed in the July National Charter as vote maximums polled in the National Referendum alongside general elections backed the reforms proposal.
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