Priyanka Tiwari
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On Sunday, S. Jaishankar, the external affairs minister, remarked that Bangladesh needs to decide on the type of relationship they will forge with India. This was in reaction to comments made by the interim government of Bangladesh towards India Jaishankar derided New Delhi's claims.
Jaishankar said this after a few days of meeting Bangladesh's foreign minister Touhid Hossain in Muscat. he went on to lambast the Dhaka interim government for its hostile comments towards New Delhi.
"We have a long and special history with Bangladesh going back to 1971. Things happened there last year [Sheikh Hasina's ouster]. But what is very troubling for India is the spate of attacks on the minorities... obviously, it is something that impacts our thinking and we have to speak up and we have done so. The second, they have their politics – you can agree, you can disagree... but at the end of the day, we are their neighbor, and they have to make up their mind," said Jaishankar.
According to him, Dhaka cannot be two-faced at one time and about its stance towards India.
“Each day someone in the interim government stands up and assigns blame to India for everything and some of those things, if you see the reports, are absurd. On the one hand, you can’t say I would like to have good relations with you, but I wake up each morning and blame you for everything that goes wrong. It is also a decision that they have to make,” the minister remarked.
He further pointed out that the Narendra Modi administration has made it clear that they expect calmness to return to Bangladesh but do not appreciate anti-Indian sentiments that are often perpetuated in that country.
During his recent meeting with the interim government’s foreign affairs advisor Touhid Hossain in Muscat, Jaishankar also pointed out that Bangladesh “should in no circumstance endorse terrorism.”
Bangladesh is currently being ruled by Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus supported by his team of advisors after removing former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
