Hasina, who has been living in India ever since her ouster in August 2024, faces a death sentence in Bangladesh. Her party, the Awami League, has been banned in the country.INDIA ON Friday clarified that it had no role in the media event organised by ousted Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on August 5, and stated that it does not endorse anything said at the forum about the “duly constituted government” of Bangladesh.The official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal, said: “The government had no role to play in what was an event by a private media entity, and the government does not endorse anything said at the forum, especially with regard to the duly constituted government of Bangladesh.”The statement comes two days after Hasina announced in a virtual press conference that she plans to return to her country in December.Interestingly, the MEA’s response did not mention “democratically elected government of Bangladesh”. Earlier this year, New Delhi had raised questions over the inclusivity of the Bangladesh general elections, held in February, as the Hasina-led Awami League was banned from contesting it. Later, India welcomed the victory of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and congratulated its leader and Prime Minister Tarique Rahman; Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla also attended his swearing-in ceremony.Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Rahman soon after he was elected.On August 5, Hasina addressed a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia in New Delhi via an audio link. She said her “life had moved beyond calculations of personal safety long ago”, and she plans to return to her country, stand with its people and help improve their lives.Also Read | Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League accuses Dhaka of ‘false info’ before Delhi event“Whatever fate awaits me, I will return to my people. I cannot stay away while my beloved countrymen are suffering. I know I may be detained. I may be sent to prison. They may try to enforce verdicts in fabricated cases, but fear cannot decide my duty to the people. My life moved beyond calculations of personal safety long ago…”Story continues below this adAsked when she plans to return, Hasina referred to the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war and said, “December is our victory month, so I want to go back in the month of December.”“There were 19 assassination attempts against me… I am not worried about my future, I am worried about the future of Bangladesh. I want to return because the people deserve security, development, prosperity and peace,” she said.“They deserve a state that protects them, an economy that gives them opportunity, and democracy that gives them rights. My return and the return of the family to the democratic process is not about power. It is about putting Bangladesh back on the right track. It is about reviving the country’s path of development, progress, secularism and stability. I want to return to Bangladesh for one purpose: to stand beside the people and help improve their lives. People are the source of all power. I believe in them. I love them and I will return to them,” Hasina said.Hasina, who has been living in India ever since her ouster in August 2024, faces a death sentence in Bangladesh. Her party, the Awami League, has been banned in the country.Story continues below this adReacting sharply to her presser, the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday: “Bangladesh is outraged that the absconding convicted genocider Sheikh Hasina was allowed this evening to engage in live interaction with the media in New Delhi where she and her henchmen launched venomous vitriol against the State of Bangladesh and her people.”“Dhaka deeply regrets that in spite of concerns conveyed a priori to the Government of India about the likely ramifications of this event on the reset of our bilateral relations, this public event was permitted to be held,” the ministry said. Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 27 years now. Roy joined The Indian Express in October 2003 and has been reporting and writing explainers and analysis on foreign affairs for about 19 years now. Based in Delhi, he has also led the National government and political bureau at The Indian Express in Delhi — a team of reporters who cover the national government and politics for the newspaper. He has got the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award for Excellence in Journalism ‘2016. He got this award for his coverage of the Holey Bakery attack in Dhaka and its aftermath. He won the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award, 2023, for the second time for his reporting of the Oct 7 attacks on Israel and the war in Gaza. He also got the IIMCAA Award for the Journalist of the Year, 2022, (Jury’s special mention) for his coverage of the fall of Kabul in August 2021 — he was one of the few Indian journalists in Kabul and the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the Taliban’s capture of power in mid-August, 2021. ... Read More Tags:Sheikh Hasina