NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh chief adviser Muhammad Yunus were spotted together at the BIMSTEC dinner table, sitting next to each other, amid the deteriorating ties between the two countries since the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August last year.
As per the PTI news agency, PM Modi is expected to hold talks with Yunus here on Friday.
PM Modi arrived in Thailand on Thursday to attend the 6th BIMSTEC Summit (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation).
At the dinner table, along with PM Modi and Yunus, Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli was also sitting there.
The encounter between Modi and Yunus holds importance due to the deteriorating relations between India and Bangladesh following Hasina’s removal and the persecution of minority communities in Bangladesh.
The visit came at the time when Yunus came back from China, where his comments about India’s northeastern region caused diplomatic tension.
During his recent China visit, Yunus encouraged Chinese economic expansion into Bangladesh, making contentious observations about India’s northeastern states’ landlocked status as a potential advantage.
In his meeting with President Xi Jinping, where nine agreements were signed, Yunus stated, “The seven states of India, the eastern part of India, are called the seven sisters. They are a landlocked region of India. They have no way to reach out to the ocean.”
He described Bangladesh as the “only guardian of the ocean” regionally, suggesting this could benefit Chinese economic expansion.
This statement gained attention on social media platforms on Monday.
Indian politicians across the spectrum criticised these remarks, labelling them as “shameful” and “provocative”.
Meanwhile, senior aide of Yunu defended him on Wednesday saying his recent comment on India’s Northeast was “misinterpreted.”
“He (Yunus) made the statement with honest intentions. If people interpret it differently, we cannot prevent it,” Khalilur Rahman, the High Representative to Bangladesh’s chief adviser Yunus for the Rohingya issue and other priorities, told media persons, according to Bangladesh’s Daily Star newspaper.
