Hoping Against Hope After Myanmar President’s Visit To India – OpEd
Myanmar President U Min Aung Hlaing’s five-day official visit to India (30 May to 3 June 2026) was remarkable for New Delhi and especially the far-eastern part of Bharat, where the region is expecting an assurance from the military-backed administration in the southeast Asian nation on various fronts including security, connectivity, development and progress. The top military commander of Myanmar (formerly known as Burma or Brahmadesh) turned President made his first overseas trip to the largest democracy on Earth signifying his desperation for recognition, as Hlaing got elected following a debatable national election during December 2025 and January 2026. A number of pro-democracy organizations working in Myanmar had already criticized New Delhi for hosting a covert dictator who continues ruling a poverty stricken nation unleashing unprecedented atrocities to the millions of Burmese nationals for many years now.
During his visit, Hlaing met Indian President Droupadi Murmu as well as foreign minister S. Jaishankar and national security adviser Ajit Doval. He delivered a keynote speech at the India-Myanmar business conclave, jointly organised by the UMFCCI and CII, in the national capital, where business heads from both sides discussed avenues for further strengthening and expanding bilateral trade and commercial opportunities. The civilian head of Myanmar also toured the NTPC energy technology research alliance complex in Noida to observe advanced clean energy innovation, energy efficiency, renewable energy integration and grid resilience. Prior to it, the civilian head of the Buddhist nation also visited Bodh Gaya and offered prayers at Mahabodhi temple, Mahabodhi meditation centre and Sujata temple.
His meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi was significant as both the leaders reviewed bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest while emphasizing on fostering multifaceted cooperation between the governments and peoples of the two neighbouring countries. Modi commented that Myanmar lies at the confluence of India’s Neighbourhood First, Act East and MAHASAGAR (Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions) policies. The discussions underscored the importance of strengthening bilateral cooperation, including trade and economic ties, defence and security, border management, development assistance and cultural exchanges.
Both sides agreed to facilitate and enhance bilateral trade including through the Rupee-Kyat settlement mechanism, and appreciated the steady growth in the volume of transactions recorded since its operationalisation in May 2024. They also underscored the importance of preventing the misuse of sovereign territory for activities inimical to their security interests where Hlaing assured that Myanmar would not allow its territory to be used by separatist insurgents against India’s security interests. Modi also raised his concern over the implications of Myanmar armed groups’ presence in border areas spreading over 1,600 kilometre and subsequent military crackdown against those militias. The conflict situation has compelled many to flee and enter the Indian territories thus impacting the residents in bordering localities.
Both shared the importance of working closely towards the completion of Kaladan multi-modal transit transport project and India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway. The stalled Kaladan riverine project that aims to connect Sittwe port in Rakhine/Arakan State to the landlocked north-east India was supposed to be made operational ten years back. However, the ambitious project with a heavy investment from New Delhi continues to face difficulties primarily due to political turmoil inside the country. The other project, aiming to connect India with the southeast Asian nations by road, also gets delayed for years due to the unstable situation in various parts of Myanmar.
Modi also pushed for sustainable peace and democracy in Myanmar while raising the issue of jailed pro-democracy icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains behind bars since the 1 February 2021 military coup, which was incidentally orchestrated by Hlaing. As the commander-in-chief of Burmese army, Hlaing dethroned a democratically elected government of National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Suu Kyi. Currently serving long years of sentence under house arrest somewhere in Naypyitaw, the Nobel peace laureate is speculated to suffer from various physical ailments. Meanwhile, the country slips into a pure chaos as a number of ethnic armed groups and people defence forces launched a coordinated offensive in October 2023, resulting in a large number of townships and rural areas going under the control of those anti-junta fighters.
Currently a devastated nation of 55 million people, where anti-junta rebels continue their offensives in different parts of Myanmar and the military personnel go on brutal crackdowns with airstrikes burning villages after villages and forcing the residents to leave their home places. Thousands of people are killed and seriously injured by the indiscriminate atrocities by the junta soldiers, millions are detained, imprisoned and tortured under controversial laws framed by the military rulers and a sizable population was displaced by the conflict. Hundreds of hundred media professionals were arrested since the military coup and some of them are still behind the bars. Recently, the World Food Programme (WFP) reported that one in four people in Myanmar are now facing acute food insecurity.
Recently, a broad democratic alliance uniting 20 ethnic revolutionary organizations (representing Karenni, Karen, Kachin, Mon, Arakan and other communities), political parties and civil society groups of Myanmar, denounced Hlaing’s visit to India. Formed in 2022 to launch struggles for establishing a federal democracy in Myanmar, the Strategic Initiative Forum (SIF) asserted that Hlaing holds no electoral mandate and hence he should not be recognized as the legitimate ‘President of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar’. Identifying him as a brutal coup leader, who took charge as the President on 3 April, the SIF claimed that Myanmar had the last free and fair election on 8 November 2020, where the NLD recorded a massive win and the junta’s own political party (USDP) turned second in the national assembly.
Earlier, the Justice for Myanmar (JFM, a network of anti-military regime activists) also criticized New Delhi for hosting the former junta leader alleging that India was awarding a ‘false legitimacy’ to the Burmese military. Terming Hlaing as a war criminal, the JFM asserted that he continues waging a campaign of terror against the Myanmar people. Alleging that New Delhi was supporting the junta authorities with various means, it hoped in reconsidering India’s role for the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar. Finally the forum urged New Delhi to extend support to the Myanmarese people who are struggling and sacrificing for a federal democracy. The exile regime of Myanmar (National Unity Government, formed by the ousted Myanmarese lawmakers by the coup) also expressed dissatisfaction over Hlaing’s recently concluded visit to India.
