International Desk: After nearly two and a half months, the Prime Minister of the fallen government, Sheikh Hasina, fled from Bangladesh. He landed in Delhi on a military plane. Since then, he has not been seen in public for a single moment, no photos of him have been 'leaked' on social media, audios of various alleged phone conversations have been leaked, but there is no proof that they are his voice. - BBC Bengali

Indian government spokespersons, ministers or policy makers have not uttered a single word about her (or her accompanying younger sister Sheikh Rehana) since she landed in Delhi. Not in any press conference, not in any interview. However, the Indian government on Thursday (October 17) afternoon officially and indirectly said only that he is still in India. As BBC Bangla reported last week that the news of Sheikh Hasina going to the Emirates or any Middle Eastern country is completely baseless, so at least now the Indian government is also officially 'confirming' it.

While it is true that the Indian government has succeeded in maintaining complete secrecy over Sheikh Hasina's stay in the country, Delhi is still completely in the dark about how long she will be kept in India. "It's going to be a long haul", opined a top government official from Delhi's South Block - who believes the government is getting ready for the reality that Sheikh Hasina will have to stay in India for a long time.

So, as in the past, as the Tibetan cleric Dalai Lama or Afghan President Mohammad Najibullah's wife and children were given 'political asylum' or political asylum by India, are similar steps being considered in the case of Sheikh Hasina?

In order to find the answer to this question, the BBC spoke to officials of different levels and ministries of the Bengali government in Delhi. The answer is roughly as follows: First, in the eyes of India, Sheikh Hasina is a 'guest, but under compulsion!' That is, he is an honored guest of the state - who has to come to India under special circumstances. India knows very well that he came to India because his safety or security was threatened in his own country. Now he can be kept in the country in this 'guest' status day after day, month after month - India has no problem with that. As an old friend and guest of the country, he will receive all due respect.

Secondly, if the situation is different later, something else can be thought of – but right now India has no plans to grant political asylum to Sheikh Hasina. Most importantly, he himself never applied for asylum. But if such a proposal does come later, the Indian government knows that all parties in the country will agree on it and building a political consensus on granting asylum to Sheikh Hasina will not be a problem. But Delhi does not want to take any such step forward now.

As a result, in a word, for the time being India wants to offer 'hospitality' to Sheikh Hasina - not 'shelter'.