Despite the issue, Delhi has made repeated overtures to the new government. A formal invitation was extended to Rahman soon after he took office, and India’s High Commissioner to Bangladesh Dinesh Trivedi has held discussions with Bangladeshi officials, including the prime minister, in recent weeks.
When Rahman visits, Trivedi has said, external, he will be “accorded the highest honour” and given a “memorable welcome”.
Such public enthusiasm is unusual for India, which does not often make such a strong show of wanting to host the leader of a neighbouring country.
“I would imagine that there is a degree of frustration [in Delhi] because except for actually handing over Hasina, they have gone pretty far in terms of reaching out to Dhaka,” Shyam Saran, a former Indian foreign secretary, told the BBC.
Saran points to India’s efforts to meet some of Bangladesh’s immediate needs, including supplying electricity and fuel and issuing medical visas. Several bilateral mechanisms aimed at facilitating trade have also been revived, he said.
Of course, there is a lot at stake for both countries.
India and Bangladesh share a 4,096km (2,545-mile) border, as well as close cultural and linguistic ties. Bilateral trade was worth more than $12bn last year, overwhelmingly in India’s favour.
Bangladesh is also important to India’s efforts to improve access to its north-eastern states.
During Hasina’s 15 years in power, the two governments expanded road, rail and port links, improving India’s access to its north-east. They also worked closely on security, with Hasina’s government cracking down on insurgent groups that India said had been operating from Bangladeshi territory.
But India’s close relationship with the former prime minister became increasingly controversial in Bangladesh, where critics accused Delhi of overlooking concerns about democracy and human rights.
And her continued presence in India has kept those tensions alive. They resurfaced on 5 August, when Hasina addressed journalists virtually at an event organised by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia in Delhi. She vowed to return to Bangladesh in December and accused Rahman’s BNP government of suppressing her supporters.
