August 22, 2026

Bangladesh After Hasina: Rethinking the India Consensus

The fall of Sheikh Hasina in August 2024 did not simply end a government. It ended a foreign-policy consensus. For fifteen years, Bangladesh-India relations had rested on a singular bargain: an Awami League government delivered New Delhi’s core strategic interests, including security cooperation that weakened insurgency in India’s restive Northeast, transit and port access, and political stability on India’s eastern frontier. In return, India provided diplomatic backing, economic support, and what its officials proudly called a “golden chapter” in bilateral relations. When that government fell, the bargain collapsed with it. What followed was not merely a cooling of ties, but