Muhammad Yunus alleges PM Modi ignored Bangladesh’s plea to restrain Sheikh Hasina’s political statements

Bangladesh chief adviser Muhammad Yunus with Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Bangladesh chief adviser Muhammad Yunus contended that Prime Minister Narendra Modi dismissed his request regarding preventing former PM Sheikh Hasina from addressing the people of her country from Indian soil. Yunus claimed that PM Modi told him that Hasina's social media activities cannot be controlled.

During an interaction with Chatham House think tank director Bronwen Maddox in London on Wednesday, Yunus said, “All the anger (against Hasina) has now transferred to India because she went there. When I had a chance to talk to Prime Minister Modi, I simply said: you want to host her, I cannot force you to abandon that policy. But please help us in making sure she doesn’t speak to Bangladeshi people the way she is doing (online).”

“She announces on such and such date, such and such hour, she will speak and the whole (of) Bangladesh gets very angry,” he added.

Hasina, the former Prime Minister of Bangladesh, fled to India last August amid student-led demonstrations against a government job quota system. The protests had turned violent, resulting in unrest across the entire country.

When asked if India agreed to his demand, Yunus said, “No. Modi’s answer, I quote, he said, ‘It’s the social media, we cannot control it’. What can you say? It’s an explosive situation, you can’t just walk away by saying this is social media. So, this is what is still going on.”

The interim government head also said that he wanted good relations with India, but "something always went wrong".

“…somehow things go wrong every time because of all the fake news coming from the Indian press… and many people say it has connections with policymakers on the top,” he stated.

Yunus, the 84-year-old Nobel Laureate, recently announced that national elections will be held by the first half of 2026.

Asked if he would consider being part of the elected government, Yunus replied: “No way.” He arrived on Tuesday for a four-day visit to the UK, where he was greeted with protests by Hasina’s Awami League party members in the UK.