'Choose your enemies carefully': Top security expert's grim warning for PM Modi as Bangladesh plunges into crisis

As neighbouring Bangladesh plunges into crisis after Sheikh Hasina resigned as Prime Minister, security analyst Sushant Sareen has sounded an alarm for New Delhi and said the greatest challenge for Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to insulate India from the storms raging in the region and the world. 

"The greatest challenge for Modi 3.0 is not creating jobs, getting investments, aiming for a $5-10 trillion economy. It is to protect, defend and insulate India from the storms raging in the region and the world," Sareen said while reacting to a video from Bangladesh where protesters were seen storming the official residence of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. 

"If he (Modi) manages to do that, the economy will thrive. But if we are dragged in (and there will be efforts and pressure to drag us in) or if we disturb our own equilibrium then we neither get an economy nor stability," the security expert said, adding that New Delhi needs to pipe down to build strength rather than stupidly and prematurely declare that India is a global power. 

"Meanwhile brace yourselves for a roller coaster ride next few years. Choose your enemies carefully and choose your friends even more carefully. Remember enemies don't stab you in the back, 'friends' do," said Sareen, a senior fellow at ORF. 

Earlier this afternoon, as protests escalated in Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina resigned as Prime Minister and left Dhaka. Hasina has reached India and she is likely to leave for the UK. India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met former Hasina at Hindon Airbase. 

External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar briefed Prime Minister Modi on the situation in Bangladesh. 

The Border Security Force (BSF) has issued a high alert as India shares a long border with Bangladesh. A senior BSF officer said that the security force is constantly in touch with Border Guard Bangladesh over the current situation. "As of now, the situation is normal at the border. Due to the curfew in Bangladesh, there are restrictions on traffic movement at Integrated Check Posts along India-Bangladesh border," he said. 

Bangladesh's army chief declared that an interim government would be formed in the country, which has been on a boil due to protests over the reservation.  

Former Foreign Secretary and ex-Ambassador to Bangladesh Harsh Vardhan Shringla, however, said that the Opposition BNP or Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami had joined the agitation and had put violence in the protest. He also said that one can't rule out the involvement of foreign powers who were inimical to Bangladesh's interest and to India's security. "You cannot rule out the fact that certain interests have been fishing in troubled waters. But I think the situation itself was a result of several underlying factors, inherent within Bangladesh."