New Delhi:
Days after his meeting with Bangladesh’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Touhid Hossain in Muscat, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has cautioned Bangladesh over its inconsistent outlook towards India, advising Dhaka to refrain from some of the “ridiculous” claims being made against India by leaders of the interim government.
Mr Jaishankar’s caution comes amid Dhaka’s increasingly hostile behaviour towards New Delhi. Voicing his concern sternly, the foreign minister said Bangladesh must “make up their mind” right now on which direction they want their relations with India to head.
Highlighting Dhaka’s duplicity, Mr Jaishankar said Bangladesh cannot say it wants good ties with India while blaming New Delhi at the same time for everything that goes wrong for them domestically.
“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,” Mr 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 on the situation in Bangladesh and how it impacts 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,” Mr Jaishankar said.
“The second aspect,” he explained “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.”
The Government of India, he said, has “sent a clear message to Bangladesh” – that New Delhi would like things to calm down. But it does not appreciate Bangladesh’s constant hostile messaging towards India.
In the meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart Touhid Hossain, Mr Jaishankar had, last week, conveyed that Dhaka must not “normalise terrorism”. The caution comes amid Pakistan’s growing influence in Bangladesh.
In response to a question on whether regional grouping SAARC came up during Mr Jaishankar’s meeting with Mr Hossain, the Ministry of External Affairs confirmed that “Regarding whether SAARC came up for discussion or not… Yes, the matter was brought up by the Bangladesh side when the EAM met with Bangladesh’s Foreign Adviser in Muscat. It was acknowledged that everyone in South Asia is aware of which country and what activities are responsible for stymying SAARC. EAM conveyed that it is important for Bangladesh not to normalise terrorism.”
Mr Jaishankar and Mr Hossain had previously met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in September last year, marking the first high-level engagement between India and Bangladesh’s interim government after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ouster in August 2024.