Yunus Sparks Fresh Row Over 'Controversial' Map Showing India's Northeast In Bangladesh

Last Updated:November 12, 2025, 20:25 IST

The trigger is a book Muhammad Yunus gave to a visiting Canadian delegation – its cover showing artwork of a map of Bangladesh, which appears to swallow much of India's northeast

During a meeting with the Canadian delegation, interim leader Muhammad Yunus handed over the book whose map echoes the idea of a "Greater Bangladesh". (Image: Sourced)

Bangladesh interim leader Muhammad Yunus has once again landed himself in a full-blown “anti-India" row. This time, the trigger is a book he presented to a visiting Canadian delegation – its cover showing an artwork of a map of Bangladesh, which appears to swallow much of India’s northeast.

The delegation, led by Canadian senator Salma Ataullahjan and joined by MPs Salma Zahid and Sameer Zuberi, met Muhammad Yunus at Dhaka’s State Guest House Jamuna on Wednesday.

During the meeting, Yunus handed over the book whose map echoes the idea of a “Greater Bangladesh" – a concept actively pushed by the Islamist outfit Sultanat-e-Bangla, notorious for its expansionist propaganda.

The incident has sparked outrage in India, and comes close on the heels of Yunus presenting the same controversial book to visiting Pakistani General Shamshad Mirza in Dhaka. Critics said it is not a coincidence but part of a pattern – a soft-diplomacy play with a hard political edge.

His move also comes against the backdrop of frosty India-Bangladesh ties and his not-so-distant comments describing India’s northeast as “landlocked" – remarks seen in New Delhi as needlessly provocative. 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."

It was seen to be an insinuation that India is “trapped". In a retort to him, at the BIMSTEC summit in Bangkok, external affairs minister S Jaishankar hit back with “the longest coastline in the Bay of Bengal, of almost 6,500 km" while sending a message to Bangladesh.

“We also believe that cooperation is an integrated outlook, not one subject to cherry picking," Jaishankar had said.

One Bangladeshi foreign-policy insider News18 spoke to said, requesting anonymity: “This is not a diplomatic slip – it’s a signal."

New Delhi, meanwhile, thinks the Nobel laureate’s actions seem to suggest that the interim leadership of Dhaka is courting “anti-India" narratives to consolidate domestic support.

News world Yunus Sparks Fresh Row Over 'Controversial' Map Showing India's Northeast In Bangladesh

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