Diplomatic tensions between India and Bangladesh rose a notch on Sunday with New Delhi dismissing as “misleading propaganda” Bangladeshi media reports about an attempted “breach” at the country’s mission here on Saturday, and Dhaka issuing a rejoinder.

India also flagged the “barbaric” lynching of Dipu Charan Das and expressed concern at the “attacks on minorities” in Bangladesh, riling Dhaka further.

Responding to media queries on Sunday afternoon on the demonstration in front of the Bangladesh high commission, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said: “We have noted misleading propaganda in sections of the Bangladesh media on the incident.”

He added: “The fact is that about 20-25 youth gathered in front of the Bangladesh high commission in New Delhi on December 20 and raised slogans in protest against the horrendous killing of Dipu Chandra Das in Mymensingh, while also calling for the protection of all minorities in Bangladesh.

“There was no attempt to breach the fence or create a security situation at any time. The police stationed at the spot dispersed the group after a few minutes.

“Visual evidence of these events is available publicly for all to see. India is committed to ensure the safety of foreign missions/ posts in its territory in accordance with the Vienna Convention.”

On the situation in Bangladesh, Jaiswal said: “India continues to keep a close watch on the evolving situation in Bangladesh. Our officials remain in touch with Bangladesh authorities and have conveyed to them our strong concerns at the attacks on minorities. We have also urged that the perpetrators of the barbaric killing of Das be brought to justice.”

This was the first official comment from India on the unfolding situation in Bangladesh since youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi died of his injuries on Thursday, triggering countrywide protests that targeted several newspaper offices and did not spare even the parliament building in Dhaka.

Hours later, a statement from the Bangladesh foreign office said: “The unjustifiable incident at the Bangladesh high commission residence in New Delhi on 20th December 2025 is highly regrettable and cannot be accepted as ‘misleading propaganda’.

“The miscreants were allowed to carry out their activities right outside the perimeters of the high commission, creating panic among the personnel inside the complex. The high commission was not given advance information about this organised event.

“We have, however, noted the commitment of the Government of India to ensure the safety and security of all Bangladesh diplomatic posts in India.”

On the lynching of Das, the Bangladesh foreign office rejected what it said was an attempt by India to “depict an isolated attack on a Bangladeshi citizen, who happens to belong to the Hindu community, as attacks on minorities”.

Asserting that the suspects in the lynching had been apprehended, Dhaka said: “The inter-communal situation in Bangladesh is better than in many other parts in South Asia.”

Sunday’s exchange of words put a new strain on the bilateral relationship, which has been under pressure since the July-August uprising last year ousted then Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and she fled to India.

India has allowed Hasina to stay in the country despite repeated requests from Dhaka to send her back, particularly after a tribunal sentenced her to death last month.

India’s non-committal response to these requests saw the July Oikyo — the coalition of Bangladeshi groups formed after the uprising — call for an anti-India protest outside the Indian high commission in Dhaka on Wednesday afternoon.

This led New Delhi to summon the Bangladesh high commissioner and ask him to ensure the safety of India’s mission and posts in Bangladesh.

But the demonstrations have continued. The protest at the Bangladesh mission in Delhi was small in comparison to the mobilisation near the Indian missions in Dhaka, Rajshahi and Chittagong. Stones were thrown at the office of the assistant high commission in Chittagong.

At least two retired foreign secretaries have articulated the sense of disquiet in New Delhi over the events in Bangladesh.

“Her foreign opponents fixated on #SheikhHasina through a narrow lens: elections that didn’t meet Western democratic aesthetics, long incumbency, centralised power, human rights reports,” Nirupama Menon Rao said in a post on X.

“All real issues, but treated in isolation, stripped of context. Bangladesh was judged as if it were Denmark with a turnout problem, not a fragile, densely packed state with a violent Islamist history and a traumatised political culture.”

She continued: “In doing so, three hard realities were ignored. First, Hasina was a stabiliser, not a revolutionary hero, but a state-builder in a hostile environment.

“She kept Jamaat and its offshoots contained, maintained civil-military balance, protected minorities better than any realistic alternative, and kept Bangladesh economically and geopolitically predictable. Her western opponents knew this. They just chose to downplay it.

“Second, they overestimated the ‘democratic opposition’. There was no credible, unified, liberal alternative waiting in the wings. Removing pressure from Hasina didn’t empower democrats. It empowered street power, radicals, and actors who thrive precisely when institutions weaken.

“Third, there was the old habit of believing that toppling or delegitimising a strong incumbent automatically opens space for pluralism. History says the opposite. Individed societies, power vacuums don’t fill with moderates. They fill with the loudest, angriest, and most organised forces. Often religious, often violent.

“These were destructive missteps. Not because Hasina was flawless, but because state collapse is always worse than imperfect order. Chasing democratic optics ended up accelerating a counterrevolution that hollowed out politics, normalised persecution, and destabilised an entire country.”

Former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal described the Bangladesh foreign ministry’s statement as “aggressive” and indicative of the interim government in Dhaka seeking a confrontation with India.

He also questioned the embassies of the US, France and Germany in Dhaka “giving indirect support to a regime change in BD (Bangladesh) through street violence led by Islamist elements”.

Sibal was commenting on these three embassies mourning Hadi’s death.

“The anti-Indian, pro-Pakistan thrust of the anti-Hasina movement is well known to France and others…. India has protested repeatedly about the treatment of minorities in BD,” he said.

“The lynching of a BD Hindu allegedly for blasphemy is known to these diplomatic missions. They also know the provocative agenda of Osman Hadi’s movement with regard to claiming India’s northeast and making BD a Sharia compliant country, which is a direct threat to the future of the minorities in BD.”