Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has found refuge in India since her forced departure on August 5, had forged a privileged relationship with her counterpart, Narendra Modi.

Now, however, Hasina’s presence is causing Delhi to fear a loss of influence to China, reports Le Monde, a French newspaper.

Friends can sometimes become a burden. Sheikh Hasina, who has taken refuge in India since her forced departure from Bangladesh on August 5, is now the subject, along with other officials, of a murder investigation by a Dhaka court into the death of a man during protests against her government. The number of people killed during the unrest is estimated at over 450.

The former prime minister replied in a statement published on X by her son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy. She demanded investigations to identify and bring to justice those responsible for the ‘heinous killings’ and ‘acts of sabotage’, and called on her supporters to mobilize on Thursday, August 15, by going to the museum house of her father, former prime minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, which had been set on fire and vandalized by the crowd of protesters. But the rally was short-lived: participants were forced to retreat in the face of a hostile crowd armed with sticks.

In 1996, Hasina declared the anniversary of her father's death a public holiday to commemorate the hero of the Bangladesh Liberation War, who was killed in a coup in 1975. The decision was overturned by the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus.

Hasina's stay in Delhi, described as "temporary" by the Indian foreign minister, is likely to drag on if another country does not welcome her. No information has been released about her place of residence. The Indian press reported that she landed on August 5 at the Hindon military base in Ghaziabad, on the outskirts of Delhi, and that Ajit Doval, a national security adviser very close to Indian Prime Minister Modi, paid her a visit.

Hasina knows she can count on her host. Since 2014, the two have forged a highly privileged relationship. In fact, the Bangladeshi prime minister was the first official guest, in June, after the re-election of the Hindu nationalist.

Modi has never found fault with the autocratic excesses of the "Iron Begum." He made Bangladesh a centerpiece of his Neighborhood First policy, obsessed with his loathing of Pakistan and his competition with China. And he was anxious to support an uncompromising ally vis-à-vis Islamist extremist groups and anti-Indian separatist elements in the Northeast. India shares a 4,000-kilometer border with Bangladesh.

New Delhi, in return, had developed trade agreements, extended road and rail connectivity between the two countries and granted low-interest credit lines, helping its neighbor out of poverty.

Delhi's leniency for Hasina risks amplifying the anti-Indian sentiment widespread in Bangladesh. The opposition saw the bilateral relationship as interference by Delhi in domestic affairs, and suspected the Indian security services of working in support of the ruling Awami League during the elections.

India "must shed its binary approach – supporting the Awami League over the other political parties – and convey its willingness to be a sensitive neighbor keen to engage with the interim regime across all policy issues," argued Sreeradha Datta, a professor at India's Jindal University, in an op-ed published by The Diplomat website.

"India now needs to tread carefully and avoid creating any perception it is undermining the interim government, and by extension the aspirations of the Bangladeshi people," agreed Thomas Kean of the Crisis Group NGO.