Ouster of Bangladesh’s prime minister will test India’s regional power, with Beijing’s on the rise

NEW DELHI (AP) — The dramatic resignation of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina poses a dilemma for India’s government, and the South Asian powerhouse could even see its influence in the region wane, according to experts.

During her 15-year rule, Hasina cultivated deep ties with India, her biggest backer, as she oversaw an economic boom and drew the two countries closer on business, energy and defense. Bangladesh is India’s biggest trade partner in South Asia, with bilateral trade of just under $16 billion.

“India will need much political and diplomatic skill in dealing with the consequences of the fall of Sheikh Hasina, which could rattle the geopolitics of the subcontinent, if not reshape it,” C. Raja Mohan, a foreign affairs expert, told The Associated Press.

Bangladesh under Hasina, the country’s longest-serving prime minister, was also a safe bet security-wise for India: The 76-year-old was regarded as a secular leader, in the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million, who clamped down on anti-India insurgents. She tamed rising threats of Islamic militancy and kept the military in their barracks in a country with a history of army takeovers.

This made Hasina’s Bangladesh a critical partner to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the region became increasingly tense with an assertive China at the Himalayan borders, and longtime rival Pakistan with which India fought three wars. Her resignation has left a power vacuum that could be filled by a new government more friendly to China and Pakistan, analysts say, posing a challenge to Modi’s efforts to make India a regional power, especially as border disputes drag on and heighten tensions with both.

Hasina’s Bangladesh was a crucial ally to India in maintaining regional