Days after he met with Bangladesh’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Touhid Hossain in Muscat, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has cautioned Bangladesh to refrain from some of the “ridiculous” claims being made against India by leaders of the interim government.
Jaishankar’s caution comes amid Dhaka’s constant hostile behaviour towards New Delhi.
In a stern message, the foreign minister said Bangladesh must “make up their mind” right now on which direction they want their relations with India to head.
Jaishankar said Bangladesh cannot say it wants good ties with India while blaming New Delhi at the same time for everything that goes wrong in its country.
“If every day someone in the interim government stands up and blames India for everything – some of those things if you look at the reports, are absolutely ridiculous… You cannot, on the one hand, say that ‘I would now like to have good relations with you’, but I wake up every morning and blame you for everything that goes wrong. It is a decision that they must make,” Jaishankar said at a public function.
“They must make up their minds on what kind of relationship they want to have with New Delhi, going forward. We have a long history with Bangladesh. We have a very special history with Bangladesh – one that goes back to 1971,” he added.
The foreign minister also reiterated India’s concerns about Bangladesh’s situation and its impact on bilateral talks.
“There are two aspects to the problem that our bilateral ties are facing – the first being communal attacks on minorities. What is very troubling for India is the spate of attacks on minorities. It obviously is something that impacts our thinking. It is something we have to speak up about, which we have done,” Jaishankar said.
“The second aspect is that they have their domestic politics – which you can agree with or disagree with, but at the end of the day, we are their neighbour, and they have to make up their mind on their outlook towards us,” he said.
The Government of India, he said, has “sent a clear message to Bangladesh” that New Delhi would like things to settle but does not appreciate Bangladesh’s constant hostile messaging towards India.
In the meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart Touhid Hossain, Jaishankar had conveyed that Dhaka must not “normalise terrorism”. The caution comes amid Pakistan’s growing influence in Bangladesh.
