New Delhi: The Rights and Risks Analysis Group (RRAG) has urged the Indian government to completely disengage with the interim government led by Dr. Mohammad Yunus in Bangladesh, following the demolition of a Durga Temple in Dhaka on Thursday.
RRAG stated that the Ministry of External Affairs’ condemnations of attacks on religious minorities have become “routine” and urged India to adopt a firmer stance until a new elected government assumes power in Dhaka.
Suhas Chakma, Director of the RRAG, asserted, “On 17 December 2024, the High Court of Bangladesh restored the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of Bangladesh, allowing for a caretaker government for a period of 90 days. The term of the current interim government expired on March 16, 2025, as per the High Court judgment.”
He further added, “India’s engagement with Dr. Yunus has been providing the illegal regime legitimacy and, in a way, is not pushing the international community to take a firm position on the need for an elected government in Bangladesh as the illegal Interim Government threatens regional peace and security.”
He further added, “India’s engagement with Dr. Yunus has been providing the illegal regime legitimacy and, in a way, is not pushing the international community to take a firm position on the need for an elected government in Bangladesh as the illegal interim government threatens regional peace and security.”
RRAG highlighted that despite its constitutional illegality, Dr Yunus has been clinging on to power and it managed to stymie the opposition from the Bangladesh National Party following a meeting with Tariq Zia, Acting Chairperson of the BNP, in London on June 13, 2025.
The organization claimed the interim government is using “so-called reforms” as a pretext to remain in power, knowing it cannot implement recommendations from various reform commissions without an elected parliament.
“It has become obvious that the so-called reform commissions are the lifeline of the illegal Interim Government and Dr Yunus will continue to dish out such commissions on the drop of a hat, just to remain in power,” stated Chakma.
He cited the formation of the National Consensus Commission headed by Dr. Yunus on February 13, 2025, and another commission established on June 26, 2025, to “investigate allegations raised regarding the last three national parliamentary elections and make recommendations for holding fair elections in the future.”
The RRAG further alleged that as the “illegal interim government” faces opposition, primarily from the BNP, it has increasingly relied on the full support of Jamaat-I-Islami and the National Citizen Party (NCP). This reliance, according to RRAG, has led to increased attacks on minorities, particularly Hindus and indigenous peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, with these incidents often dismissed as “ordinary crimes.”
It also accused the Interim Government of silencing opposition by banning the Chhatra League and the Awami League, and persecuting independent media.
RRAG cited alarming figures, including the murder of at least 123 members of the Awami League between August 5, 2024, and April 30, 2025, targeting of 640 journalists from August 2024 to March 2025, criminal cases against over 500,000 political opponents, dissolution of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), and over 2,000 reported cases of increased attacks on indigenous peoples and religious minorities in August 2024 alone.
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“India’s interests are completely different from those who are not immediate neighbours of Bangladesh. Unless India reviews its ongoing policy of engaging with the illegal interim government, not only India’s interests will be severely harmed, it would be impossible for the religious minorities, hill tribes of the Chittagong Hill Tracts and opponents (both political and merely liberal) to Islamic fundamentalists to exist/survive in Bangladesh. These implications are hard to imagine and these are not matters of conjectures but realities of the day,” Chakma added.
