In a worrying reflection of the Bangladesh government's growing encouragement of anti-India sentiments following the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, a provocative speech laced with hostility toward India was delivered from the pulpit of Dhaka’s most prominent mosque, Baitul Mukarram.
Mamunul Haque, a senior leader of the radical Islamist outfit Hefazat-e-Islami, used the platform during a gathering on Sunday to launch a blistering attack against India. He declared solidarity with Muslims in India’s border regions and openly threatened to support any anti-Narendra Modi movements that might emerge.
The event, taking place without any restraint from authorities, signals a disturbing shift, with the Bangladesh government seemingly giving a free hand to extremist elements to openly spread hatred against India.
“Listen, Indian Muslims — Bangladesh’s Muslims are with you. Build up an irresistible movement against Narendra Modi. If necessary, we will assist you to liberate India from Hindutva rule,” Mamunul Haque proclaimed, his rhetoric charged with menace.
He further vowed that if Indian Muslims organised protests in the border regions, Bangladeshi Muslims would echo their agitation, with Hefazat-e-Islami leading mass mobilisations against India on Bangladeshi soil.
This incendiary statement has provoked deep dismay among a significant section of Bangladeshis who continue to view India as a vital ally, especially given India’s instrumental role in the country’s liberation from Pakistani oppression during the 1971 war. Many Bangladeshis, particularly those sympathetic to Hasina's exiled government, perceive such hostility as a betrayal of historical ties.
However, Mamunul’s aggressive pronouncements are not isolated.
Intelligence assessments suggest that the Bangladesh interim administration — now heavily infiltrated by radical sympathisers — is systematically cultivating an anti-India narrative as part of a broader strategic realignment. Sources within Indian intelligence agencies operating in Bangladesh indicate that Dhaka’s temporary regime not only freed known extremists but has also embedded their sympathisers into pivotal roles across government institutions.
Organizations like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Ansar-al-Islam (formerly Ansarullah Bangla Team) — groups with a long history of orchestrating terror plots against Indian interests — are reported to be functioning openly under the guise of Hefazat-e-Islami activism.
"The anti-India activities being fomented are not spontaneous; they are state-enabled," a senior Indian intelligence official disclosed.
In a damning revelation that underscores these concerns, Bangladesh’s interim government's legal advisor, Dr. Asir Nazrul, was recently exposed in a photograph alongside Harun Izhar, the LeT chief in Bangladesh. Izhar held a meeting with Izhar hours after the Pahelgam massacre at the office of the Bangladesh’s Ministry of Law.
Izhar has a documented history of terror conspiracies, including plotting attacks against the Indian High Commission and the U.S. Embassy in Dhaka — plots that surfaced following the interrogation of David Coleman Headley, a key conspirator in the 2008 Mumbai attacks presently servive a 35-year sentence in US prison.
The resurfacing of such figures, now enjoying tacit protection under Dhaka’s interim administration, points to a dangerous recalibration of Bangladesh’s foreign and internal security policies.
Adding to the gravity, the interim regime’s clandestine affiliations with Pakistan’s notorious Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) — widely implicated in orchestrating atrocities such as the latest Pahalgam massacre — further reinforces suspicions of Dhaka’s evolving anti-India axis.
Strategic analysts warn that these developments, if left unchecked, could unravel regional stability. The coordinated emergence of Islamist radicalism under state patronage in Bangladesh, coupled with overt hostility toward India, signals a marked departure from the secular democratic path Sheikh Hasina had championed during her tenure.
As Bangladesh’s interim government doubles down on its anti-India stratagem, New Delhi finds itself compelled to recalibrate its diplomatic and security posture to address the rising tide of extremism and safeguard its strategic interests along the eastern frontier.
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