By Admin 
The election results of Bangladesh have decided that Tariq Rahman, son of former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Khaleda Zia and head of Bangladesh Nationalist Party, will now be the new Prime Minister of Bangladesh. But the question is what will be the change in the relations between Bangladesh and India if Tariq Rahman becomes the Prime Minister. After all, after becoming the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, will Tariq Rahman be closer to Chinese President Xi Jinping or will he make Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi his friend. The biggest question is whether after becoming the Prime Minister, Tariq Rahman will be successful in stopping the attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh or not.
People of Bangladesh trust Tariq
In the election results of Bangladesh which came on 13 February 2026, the people have elected Tariq Rahman as their new Prime Minister. As soon as the name was decided, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on behalf of India congratulated him on his victory and wrote on Twitter, ‘This victory shows that the people of Bangladesh have faith in your leadership. India will stand in support of a democratic, progressive and inclusive Bangladesh. I look forward to working with you to strengthen multi-faceted relations and advance shared development goals.
But the question is whether Tariq Rehman will also maintain equally warm relations with India as shown by India on the victory of Tariq Rehman. This question is also important because not only Tariq Rehman, but also the history of his late mother Khaleda Zia and her BNP has never been in favor of India. Many new and old examples of this also exist. As:
- Tariq Rahman’s mother Khaleda Zia, in her very first election in 1991, had accused Sheikh Hasina that her party Awami League would bind Bangladesh in the chains of India.
- Khaleda Zia used to oppose the 1972 treaty between India and Bangladesh and called it against the sovereignty of Bangladesh.
- Khaleda Zia had opposed giving transit rights to India. Then he had said that allowing Indian trucks to run toll-free on the roads of Bangladesh is slavery to India.
- While being the Prime Minister, Khaleda had given free rein to India’s banned organization ULFA for arms smuggling. This was revealed after the seizure of weapons from Chittagong in 2004, when about 10 trucks carrying Bangladeshi weapons were caught on the Indian border.
Apart from this, Khaleda Zia’s government never maintained good coordination with India. Tariq Rehman’s recent works are also more or less pointing in this direction. After spending 18 months in jail in 2007 and living in exile in London for 17 years, Tariq Rahman returned to Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh on 26 December 2025. A few days later, in January 2026, he paid a courtesy call on Chinese Ambassador Yao Wen and said that relations between Bangladesh and China are close and friendly.
Bangladesh supported One China Policy
Tariq Rahman had talked about supporting Bangladesh even on China’s weakest point and said that he is with the One China Policy. Tariq also talked about continuing the ongoing projects and defense agreements worth about $6 billion with China under the existing Belt and Road Initiative, which naturally revealed Tariq Rehman’s preference.
Now that Tariq Rahman is going to become the new Prime Minister of Bangladesh, it is doubtful whether he will be able to take Bangladesh forward by keeping a one-sided inclination towards China. Therefore, he is currently busy balancing his foreign policy and that is why he is trying to melt the ice in relations. Because he would not have forgotten that even though his mother Khaleda Zia never maintained relations with India, when Khaleda Zia passed away, Prime Minister Modi himself expressed grief over Khaleda Zia’s demise by posting on social media. India’s Foreign Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar reached Dhaka and met Tariq Rehman. Defense Minister Rajnath Singh also went to Bangladesh High Commission in Delhi and expressed grief over the demise of Khaleda Zia.
With whom will Tariq Rehman be close?
In such a situation, it would be a bit premature to decide whether Tariq Rehman will be closer to India or China. Because during the time of Mohammad Yunus, it will not be easy for Tariq Rahman to completely get rid of the agreements that Bangladesh had made with China by spoiling the relations with India and through which China had entered deep into Bangladesh. China is not only the biggest trading partner of Bangladesh, but China has also made huge investments in Bangladesh. So now let’s wait for the oath of Tariq Rehman. Let us wait for their decisions and then decide whether Tariq Rehman will be closer to India or China.