India urges Yunus govt to stop spreading negativity about bilateral relations over Hasina's speech

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government on Friday asked Muhammad Yunus’s regime in Dhaka to stop vitiating the atmosphere and spread negativity about the bilateral relations by conflating the remarks made by Bangladesh’s deposed prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, from India with New Delhi’s position.

Md. Nural Islam, Dhaka’s acting envoy to New Delhi, was summoned to the South Block on the Raisina Hills, where senior officials of the Ministry of External Affairs conveyed to him the Modi government’s protest over the statements being made by authorities in Bangladesh portraying India negatively.

New Delhi’s move came a day after India’s acting High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Pawan Badhe, was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the government of the neighbouring country over Sheikh Hasina’s latest virtual address criticising Muhammad Yunus’s interim government in Dhaka.

“India desires a positive, constructive and mutually beneficial relationship with Bangladesh, which has been reiterated several times in recent high-level meetings,” Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said after Dhaka’s acting envoy to New Delhi was summoned to the South Block.

“It is, however, regrettable that regular statements made by Bangladesh authorities continue to portray India negatively, holding us responsible for internal governance issues. These statements by Bangladesh are in fact responsible for the persistent negativity,” Jaiswal said about the message New Delhi sent out to Dhaka.

After the historic residence of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who had led Bangladesh’s war of liberation from Pakistan in 1971, at Dhanmondi in Dhaka was demolished by an irate mob on Wednesday, Hasina in a virtual address delivered from India accused Yunus of plotting to kill her and her sister Sheikh Rehana.

“They can demolish a building but cannot erase the history. They should not forget that history has a way to take its revenge.” She also said that Bangladesh, once celebrated as a model for development, had now degenerated into a land of militants and terrorists.

Hasina, the daughter of Sheikh Mujib, has been living in India ever since she had fled from the capital city of Bangladesh on August 5, 2024, in the wake of widespread protest against the crackdown on the agitation by the students and youths against reservation in government jobs.

Yunus had on August 8 taken oath as the chief advisor of the interim government in Bangladesh.

Hasina’s party, Awami League, in a statement, alleged that the interim government led by Yunus had done nothing to stop the demolition of the residence of Bangabandhu.

India also condemned the latest act of vandalism in the capital of Bangladesh. "It is regrettable that the historic residence of Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, a symbol of the heroic resistance of the people of Bangladesh against the forces of occupation and oppression, was destroyed,” the Ministry of External Affairs stated in New Delhi.

“All those who value the freedom struggle that nurtured Bangla identity and pride are aware of the importance of this residence for the national consciousness of Bangladesh.”

“Comments attributed to former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have been made in her individual capacity in which India has no role to play. Conflating this with the Government of India’s position is not going to help add positivity to bilateral relations,” New Delhi conveyed to Dhaka in a diplomatic note handed over to the neighbouring country’s acting envoy.

“While the Government of India will make efforts for a mutually beneficial relationship, we expect that Bangladesh will reciprocate similarly without vitiating the atmosphere,” the MEA spokesperson in New Delhi said.