Brief by Shorts91 Newsdesk / 07:24pm on 17 Feb 2026,Tuesday India Global
In a significant diplomatic gesture, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla attended Bangladesh's new Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's swearing-in ceremony in Dhaka on Tuesday as India's official representative personally delivering a letter from PM Narendra Modi extending a warm invitation for Rahman to visit India at his "earliest convenience." Birla conveyed Modi's congratulations to Rahman, who returned to Dhaka after 17 years of London exile to lead BNP to a two-thirds parliamentary majority on February 12. Modi was among the first world leaders to reach out after Rahman's election victory, a deliberate signal of diplomatic thaw after two strained years under Bangladesh's interim government. Rahman, however, made his position clear: Bangladesh's foreign policy will be guided strictly by a "Bangladesh First" agenda.
