Union Home Minister Amit Shah
| Photo Credit: ANI

Bangladesh on Monday (September 23, 2024) lodged a “strong protest” against what it described as “highly deplorable remarks” made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah during his visit to Jharkhand last week. In a protest note handed over to the High Commission of India in Dhaka, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh said the comments by Mr. Shah caused “deep sense of hurt” in Bangladesh.

“We have lodged a strong protest against the highly deplorable remarks reportedly made by the Union Home Minister of India Mr. Amit Shah about Bangladeshi nationals during his recent visit to Jharkhand, India,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh in a statement on Monday.

A protest note regarding the matter was handed over to Deputy High Commissioner of India Pawan Badhe.

“The Ministry conveyed its serious reservation, deep sense of hurt and extreme displeasure and called upon the Government of India to advise the political leaders to refrain from making such objectionable and unacceptable remarks,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh further stated. The protest note from Dhaka came after Mr. Shah had referred to the issue of influx into India from the neighbourhood.

In a speech delivered in Sahibganj of poll-bound Jharkhand on September 20, Mr. Shah had presented his assessment of the inter- community situation in Jharkhand saying, “In Pakur district, slogans are being raised asking Hindus and Adivasis to leave Jharkhand. Tell me, does this land belong to Adivasis or Rohingya, Bangladeshi infiltrators?” Mr. Shah had said.

Significantly, the Indian High commission in Dhaka has been reaching out to the stakeholders in the interim government of Bangladesh in the last three weeks of September. On Sunday, Mr. Badhe had accompanied High Commissioner of India Pranay Verma in a meeting with the General Secretary of Bangladesh Nationalist Party in a rare meeting.

New Delhi:

The political churn in Bangladesh is that country’s “internal matter” but India is keen to continue what was a stable relationship, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told NDTV Tuesday afternoon, underlining the maxim that neighbouring nations are “dependent on each other”.

In a wide-ranging interview Mr Jaishankar touched on Russia’s war on Ukraine and Delhi’s potential peacemaker role in that conflict, as well as Iran leader Ayatollah Khamenei’s remark, the war in Gaza, and a flurry of foreign visits in the first 100 days of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third term.

“What happens is their internal matter. Bangladesh is our neighbour and the relationship, on our part, is something we want to keep stable. We have good trade… our people-to-people ties are good… I want to keep the relationship that way,” Mr Jaishankar said on the Bangladesh crisis.

Bangladesh battled civil unrest and violence last month – the result of a student-led movement against quota in government jobs – that forced then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign. Ms Hasina fled Dhaka in a military aircraft to land at an Air Force base near Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad.

She was expected to proceed to London to claim political asylum but British Home Office sources told NDTV its rules do not allow people to travel to that country to seek asylum or temporary refuge.

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For now, Ms Hasina is believed to be in the custody of Indian intelligence agencies.

Last month Mr Jaishankar told Parliament Ms Hasina’s office had requested permission to flee Dhaka for Delhi “at very short notice”. At an all-party briefing he said the Indian government was prepared to give Ms Hasina time to decide on her next steps, which could include political retirement.

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Last week Nobel laureate Md Yunus – who leads an interim government – said his country too wants to maintain its previous good relationship with India, but that these ties should reflect “fairness and equality”. Mr Yunus said he had received a congratulatory phone call from Prime Minister Modi.

“We want the world to recognise Bangladesh as a respected democracy,” the 84-year-old, who opted for a ‘Chief Advisor’ title rather than ‘Prime Minister’, said in his first address to his nation.

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For Ms Hasina, the Chief Advisor had stern warning, demanding she must remain silent to prevent compromising the two countries’ relationship till her extradition is sought. “If India wants to keep her till Bangladesh wants her back, the condition would be that she has to keep quiet,” he said.

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New Delhi:

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina held a bilateral talk in New Delhi on Friday, the two countries also signed three memorandum of understanding (MoUs), including one on cooperation in Digital Payment mechanisms.

“The MoU on cooperation in Digital Payment mechanism was signed between National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and Bangladesh Bank,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in an official release.

Another MoU focused on the renewal of the Cultural Exchange Program (CEP) between India and Bangladesh for 2023-2025. The third MoU was signed between the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the Bangladesh Agriculture Research Council (BARC).

PM Modi, Sheikh Hasina also looked forward to beginning of negotiations on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), covering trade in goods, and services, and protecting and promoting investment, the MEA release said.

The full range of bilateral cooperation, including political and security cooperation, border management, trade and connectivity, water resources, power and energy, development collaboration, and cultural and people-to-people linkages, was discussed by the two
leaders.

Discussions also included recent regional developments and collaboration in international fora.

Expressing satisfaction at the implementation of development cooperation projects, both Prime Minister Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina looked forward to the joint inauguration of projects: Agartala-Akhaura Rail Link, Unit-II of the Maitri Power Plant and Khulna-Mongla Rail Linkat a convenient date later.

Keeping in mind the regional situation of Bangladesh, PM Modi expressed appreciation of the burden shouldered by the country in hosting over a million persons displaced from Rakhine State in Myanmar.

He conveyed India’s constructive and positive approach to support solutions towards safe and sustainable repatriation of the refugees, according to the MEA.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina praised Prime Minister Modi for the hospitality and the two leaders expressed a desire to continue their exchanges at all levels. The leaders decided to keep collaborating in order to step up their extensive engagement.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)