Dhaka Dials Delhi: Tarique Rehman Sends a Reset Signal to Modi
BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman’s election rally in Barishal. (Image BNP on X)
BNP chief Tarique Rehman has sent an invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his oath ceremony
By NIRENDRA DEV
New Delhi, February 15, 2026 — Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief Tarique Rehman is set to take oath as Prime Minister on Tuesday. In inviting esteemed guests for the oath-taking ceremony, Rehman has already pressed the diplomatic reset button.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tops the list of 13 heads of the states in Rehman’s historic invitee list for the oath ceremony. Modi had quickly congratulated Rehman on the victory of the BNP in the Bangladesh elections.
Rehman has also invited China and Pakistan, as well as neighbouring South Asian nations. Intent is evident as Rehman signals that Bangladesh belongs to South Asia. Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan feature in the invitation list. Besides China, Rehman has also invited a few Islamic nations per tradition in Dhaka.
Rehman returned home after 17 years of exile to see his ailing mother — former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleeda Zia. She passed away after prolonged illness. But Rehman scripted a dramatic turnaround in the fortune of the BNP. His message of inclusion and reconstruction of the fractured nation gained a resounding endorsement from the people in the Bangladesh national election.
By inviting Prime Minister Modi, Rehman has also sent out a loud message to the people in Bangladesh that New Delhi remains key to the future of Dhaka. That anti-India campaign had taken a backseat in Bangladesh election campaigning augurs well for a reset in ties.
It’s not immediately clear if Modi will visit Dhaka for the Tuesday oath-taking ceremony. He had deputed External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to attend the inauguration of Donald Trump presidency in the US. That may possibly repeat in Dhaka.
But Modi may brace up for the Tarique Rehman inauguration with a shared vision for India and Bangladesh. That vision had been spelt out in the past. But Chief Advisor of the Interim Government of Bangladesh Muhammed Yunush had marred the positive spirit with his ill-advised rhetoric about India’s Northeast when he was visiting China.
In Rehman, India may see a seasoned politician who had been groomed as political heir by Zia. That should dispel apprehensions of geopolitical misadventure from Dhaka.
New Delhi may weigh an option to drop an economic anchor for Dhaka. This will bring relief to Bangladesh. Also, Rehman may find an early comfort as economic woes mount in Dhaka. India-Sri Lanka relations offer a template for a New Delhi-Dhaka reset in ties.
(This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are author’s own.)
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