At the BIMSTEC Summit dinner in Bangkok, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh's Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus were seated side by side, despite rising tensions between the two nations. The seating arrangement, which also included Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli, sparked interest as it came after Dhaka's unaccepted request for a bilateral meeting to address diplomatic rifts.

Relations between India and Bangladesh soured following Sheikh Hasina's ouster in August 2024, India's asylum offer to her, and recent incidents involving Hindu minorities. Tensions escalated further after Yunus's controversial comment in China about India's Northeast being landlocked, positioning Bangladesh as the region's only ocean gateway.

India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar countered this indirectly, hailing India's Northeast as a BIMSTEC connectivity hub. Despite the optics of proximity at the dinner, diplomacy between New Delhi and Dhaka remains fragile and under global watch.