Yunus govt summons India's acting envoy to Bangladesh after Hasina slams Sheikh Mujib's house being destroyed

The development comes a day after Sheikh Hasina's speech in which she called upon the countrymen to organise a resistance against the current regime.

New Delhi: Dhaka lodged a protest with New Delhi on Thursday after Bangladesh’s deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina in a virtual address from India condemned the demolition of the historic residence of her father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the capital city of her country, which, she deplored, turned into “a land of militants and terrorists”.

Muhammad Yunus’ interim government summoned India’s acting High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Pawan Badhe, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Dhaka and handed over to him a note of protest over the “provocative” statements of Sheikh Hasina from India.

Hasina 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.

After the historic residence of Sheikh Mujib, 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.

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.

The advisor (equivalent to minister) on foreign affairs in the interim government, Touhid Hossain, said that the deposed prime minister’s latest statement from India might have hurt the sentiment of the youths of Bangladesh.

"We will see what steps India takes,” Hossain told journalists in Dhaka after the diplomats of Bangladesh handed over the protest note to the acting envoy of India.  

Yunus’ interim government in Dhaka already asked India to extradite Hasina to Bangladesh.

New Delhi, however, did not respond to the extradition request from Dhaka, the Ministry of External Affairs informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.