Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi (File photo)
NEW DELHI: Navy chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi on Sunday said he would not call Bangladesh “anything other than a friend” and expressed confidence that “things would turn around” for India’s eastern neighbour after its parliamentary elections in February 2026.India–Bangladesh relations have remained strained since the collapse of the Sheikh Hasina-led government on August 5, 2024. Hasina, who resigned after months of student-led protests, has been living in Delhi since her ouster.“I would still refrain from calling Bangladesh anything other than a friend — because this could be a temporary and transitory moment. We’ll have to wait; elections have to happen, and then something else can happen,” Admiral Tripathi said in Pune, where he attended the passing-out parade of cadets at the National Defence Academy (NDA). He added that he met Bangladeshi cadets — the NDA also trains cadets from friendly foreign countries — ahead of the parade, and recalled that his first visit after taking over as Navy chief was to Bangladesh.“I was supposed to go to some ‘fancy’ capital but I said, ‘No. I must first go to Bangladesh.’ Tremendous warmth, tremendous hospitality…tremendous nostalgia about what India did,” he remarked, referring possibly to the 1971 India-Pakistan war that led to the creation of Bangladesh. “I’m an eternal optimist and I hope that things would turn around as far as Bangladesh is concerned,” Admiral Tripathi remarked.The neighbouring nation is currently governed by a caretaker administration led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, which assumed charge days after Hasina’s exit.Hasina was recently sentenced to death by a Bangladeshi International Crimes Tribunal for “crimes against humanity” linked to the student protest movement. Dhaka has repeatedly sought her extradition, while New Delhi maintains that the request remains under “consideration.”
