Right after a bilateral meeting between Narendra Modi and Donald Trump at the White House, an Indian journalist directed a question toward the U.S. President during the press conference. The journalist asked, “We know that during the power transition in Bangladesh, the U.S. deep state was involved under the Biden administration. Recently, the meeting between Muhammad Yunus and Junior Soros (George Soros’ son) has also proven that. So, what do you have to say about Bangladesh?”
Donald Trump responded, “No, our deep state had no role in this. The (Indian) Prime Minister has been working on this matter for a long time… In fact, I have read that (India) has been working on it for hundreds of years.”
Pointing to Narendra Modi sitting beside him, Trump added, “So, I will leave the Bangladesh issue to the (Indian) Prime Minister.”
Diplomatic analysts in Delhi interpret Trump’s statement as confirmation that India remains the most influential and decisive power in South Asian geopolitics. It also signals that the current U.S. administration will not seek to bypass India or intervene in Bangladesh-related affairs. This is the first time since the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government on August 5 that India has received such a reassuring message from the top U.S. leadership.
Until the last moment, there was uncertainty about whether Bangladesh would even be discussed between the two leaders, mainly due to Trump’s ongoing “tariff war.” Just an hour before his meeting with Modi on Thursday (February 13) afternoon, Trump dropped a major announcement—declaring that any country imposing high tariffs on U.S. goods would face reciprocal tariffs at the same rate. He specifically mentioned, “India is at the top of the pack,” making it clear that India would be most affected by this policy.
Following such an uncomfortable statement for India, it was widely expected that the summit meeting between the two leaders would focus primarily on tariffs, pushing issues like Bangladesh into the background. However, that was not the case. Instead, Bangladesh was discussed in detail.
India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri confirmed this during a press conference in Washington, D.C., after the meeting.
A top Indian diplomatic source stated that India conveyed to President Trump its vision of a “peaceful, stable, democratic, progressive, and prosperous” Bangladesh. Trump fully endorsed this policy.
Before his meeting with Trump, Narendra Modi also held separate meetings in Washington on Thursday with U.S. National Intelligence Chief Tulsi Gabbard and U.S. National Security Advisor (NSA) Mike Waltz. Reports suggest that Bangladesh was also a key topic of discussion in these high-level meetings.