Yunus sparks fresh anti-India row over map showing India’s Northeast as part of Bangladesh

Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus has once again stirred controversy, this time over allegations of promoting “anti-India” sentiments. The latest uproar stems from a book he presented to a visiting Canadian delegation, whose cover features an artwork of Bangladesh appearing to encompass large parts of India’s northeast.

The delegation, led by Canadian senator Salma Ataullahjan and including MPs Salma Zahid and Sameer Zuberi met Yunus at Dhaka’s State Guest House Jamuna on Wednesday. During the meeting, Yunus gifted the book, which reflects the idea of a “Greater Bangladesh”,  a notion propagated by the Islamist group Sultanat-e-Bangla, known for its expansionist rhetoric.

The gesture has triggered outrage in India, coming soon after Yunus presented the same book to visiting Pakistani General Shamshad Mirza in Dhaka. Critics view these repeated actions as part of a deliberate pattern, a form of soft diplomacy with overt political undertones.

The controversy unfolds amid already strained India-Bangladesh relations and follows Yunus’ earlier remarks describing India’s northeast as “landlocked,” a statement that drew criticism in New Delhi. Speaking in China, he had said: “The seven states of India, the eastern part of India… they are a landlocked country. They have no way to reach out to the ocean.”

Meanwhile, Islamists in Bangladesh rallied on Tuesday to demand the interim government legalize a national charter proposed after the ouster of the previous regime, saying that there is no possibility of holding a general election without a legally binding roadmap for political reforms.

Thousands of supporters of the largest Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami and seven other political parties who gathered in the capital, Dhaka, also demanded that the next election — expected to be held in early 2026 — be held under a proportional representation system.

The key demand is for a referendum on the “July National Charter,” which is named after the national uprising that began in July 2024 and led to the fall of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina following a 15-year rule that critics said had become increasingly autocratic.

But the charter is currently nonbinding, and the parties say a referendum is needed to make it legally binding and a part of the constitution. Only a Parliament can bring changes to the constitution in Bangladesh, a parliamentary democracy of 170 million people.

With inputs from agencies