Diplomacy is mostly an exercise in polite fiction. Former Indian High Commissioner Veena Sikri just proved she is a master of the script. When Sikri publicly slammed Dhaka for linking Tarique Rahman visiting India with the ongoing saga surrounding Sheikh Hasina's extradition, she fell straight into the lazy consensus of South Block commentary. The narrative goes like this: Bangladesh is playing raw domestic politics, tying two entirely distinct bilateral tracks together, and showing diplomatic immaturity.
It sounds tidy. It reads well in Delhi think tanks. And it is completely detached from reality. You might also find this related story useful: Why Trump Just Ordered a Major Cut to US South Korea Military Drills.
I have spent decades watching foreign policy elites treat South Asia like a chessboard where pieces only move according to bureaucratic rules written in the 1970s. When a nation undergoes a generational fracture—like Bangladesh did when its students dismantled an entrenched autocracy—the old rules of engagement shred. Treating Dhaka's current geopolitical recalibration as a petulant bargaining tactic misses the entire structural shift happening on the ground.
Let us dismantle the orthodox talking points one by one. As discussed in latest coverage by Associated Press, the implications are significant.
The Extradition Red Herring
The core friction point in Sikri's critique is the linkage between Sheikh Hasina's legal status in India and high-level diplomatic engagement. The conventional view treats Hasina’s presence in New Delhi purely through the lens of historical alliance. India sheltered an ally; therefore, India owes her protection.
That framework is ancient history.
Imagine a scenario where a major corporate board harbors a disgraced CEO facing massive fraud charges, while trying to negotiate a lucrative merger with the company's new leadership. You would call it corporate insanity. In statecraft, it is somehow expected to pass as strategic patience.
Dhaka is not linking these issues out of spite. They are linking them because sovereignty in a post-revolutionary state is indivisible. For the interim government in Bangladesh, Hasina is not just a political exile; she represents an unresolved legal and moral reckoning for human rights violations during the July uprising. When Delhi rolls out the red carpet or facilitates high-profile political maneuvering for figures associated with the previous regime while giving the cold shoulder to current governance realities, Dhaka notices.
Sikri calls this linkage rude and arrogant. The reality is far more clinical: it is transactional survival.
The Myth of Bilateral Symmetry
South Block loves to talk about shared history, blood ties, and cultural affinity. These are wonderful soundbites for state banquets, but they mask an asymmetric reality. India is a regional giant; Bangladesh is a surging economic node that commands vital maritime and land corridors in the Bay of Bengal.
For years, Indian foreign policy towards Dhaka suffered from what I call single-party myopia. Officials in Delhi bet every single strategic chip on the Awami League, treating Bangladesh as a captive market and a reliable security proxy rather than a sovereign partner with its own internal political gravity. When that single-party bet collapsed overnight in August 2024, the entire diplomatic architecture built over fifteen years cracked down the middle.
Now, instead of recalibrating, veterans like Sikri want to scold Dhaka for trying to rebalance the relationship. They argue that bilateral ties should be insulated from domestic political transitions.
This is an absurd double standard. India protects its own domestic political sensitivities with ruthless efficiency. Why should Bangladesh be expected to swallow geopolitical indignities in the name of regional harmony?
What the Diplomatic Corps Misses
Let us look at the actual mechanics of the Tarique Rahman factor. Rahman, the leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, represents a major political force poised to play a central role in whatever democratic framework emerges next in Dhaka. Ignoring him, demonizing him, or treating his potential outreach with suspicion is a masterclass in diplomatic malpractice.
If Delhi wants a stable, secure eastern border, it cannot afford to maintain a hostile posture towards every political actor outside of its historical favorites. Sikri’s critique implies that Bangladesh should compartmentalize its grievances. But compartmentalization only works when both sides trust the foundational terms of the relationship. Right now, that trust is at zero.
The irony is that treating Dhaka's demands as unreasonable only pushes Bangladesh deeper into alternative security and economic alignments, particularly with Beijing. Every time an Indian commentator labels Bangladeshi self-assertion as arrogance, a regional hedge fund manager in Singapore quietly reroutes capital, and a strategic planner in Beijing smiles.
The Uncomfortable Truth About Safe Havens
Let us address the elephant in the room: the legal status of deposed leaders.
International law offers plenty of grey areas regarding political asylum. But diplomacy is about optics and long-term consequence. By keeping Hasina in play, Delhi signals to the Bangladeshi public that Indian foreign policy values a personal relationship with a deposed autocrat over a sustainable partnership with eighty million citizens.
You cannot lecture a population on democracy while harboring the very leadership they overthrew for subverting it. It is a cognitive dissonance that no amount of diplomatic spin can fix.
Sikri and her peers want a return to the comfort zone where elite bargains were struck behind closed doors, away from public scrutiny, student protests, and democratic accountability. Those days are gone. The street changed the game in Dhaka, and the rules are not going back to 2010.
Breaking the Stagnation
So, what is the actual playbook for Delhi?
First, stop treating the interim government in Dhaka as a temporary nuisance. They hold the keys to regional stability.
Second, separate humanitarian considerations from geopolitical sheltering.
Third, open quiet, professional backchannels with all major political stakeholders in Bangladesh, including the BNP, without preconditions or historical baggage.
Clinging to outdated orthodoxies under the guise of seasoned wisdom is a luxury India cannot afford in a volatile neighborhood. If South Block continues to listen to voices that demand compliance rather than respect, it will wake up to a permanently alienated neighbor right at its most sensitive frontier.
The arrogance is not coming from Dhaka. It is coming from the refusal to admit that the old playbook is burning.
