With the assassination of Bangladeshi student leader and revolutionary Sharif Usman Hadi, India appears to have dealt a near-fatal blow to any prospect of repairing relations with its eastern neighbour. Since the popular uprising that forced Sheikh Hasina to flee to India, ties between New Delhi and Dhaka have steadily deteriorated. Anti-India sentiment has surged, manifesting in the burning of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s effigies outside the Indian embassy in Dhaka and violent clashes in which protesters attempted to breach the compound. In this highly charged atmosphere, India’s continued asylum to the former Bangladeshi prime minister has become a central grievance, a focal point for revolutionary anger that had already overturned the political order.
The killing of Sharif Usman Hadi is likely to harden and concentrate that anger into a single, unyielding cause. A vocal critic of India who had publicly stated that he was receiving threats from across the border, Hadi’s murder risks transforming him into a martyr of a kind Bangladesh has not previously seen in this phase of its political upheaval. By eliminating a popular student leader poised to enter mainstream politics, India may have inadvertently galvanised the very demographic that formed the backbone of the revolution: the country’s youth.
Already, other student leaders have begun to allege that they too are receiving threats from across the border. More alarmingly, former Indian military spokesmen and individuals linked to intelligence circles have been openly boasting about conducting attacks inside Bangladesh against anti-India voices. Such rhetoric, whether bluster or bravado, only deepens suspicion and fuels public outrage. This trajectory points towards a confrontation that could quickly spiral beyond India’s ability to manage or contain.
History offers a familiar lesson. A man can be silenced, but an idea cannot be killed. More often than not, the murder of a single individual elevates him into a symbol, rendering his beliefs immune to suppression and his message more potent than before.
Anti-India sentiment in Bangladesh is therefore set to intensify further. Unless New Delhi makes the politically difficult decision to hand over Sheikh Hasina to face legal proceedings in Bangladesh, there appears to be little it can do to reverse the damage. The window for de-escalation is narrowing, and India’s current course risks closing it altogether.
