New Delhi: The spate of attacks against minorities in Bangladesh “impacts” Indian thinking, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar said Saturday, urging Dhaka to “make up” its mind on the relationship it wants with New Delhi.
Separately, he said that India is looking into the activities of the US government’s development funding arm in India after allegations that its funding was being misused.
“There are two aspects to it [on what is troubling with Bangladesh]. The spate of attacks on minorities in Bangladesh, obviously it is something which impacts our thinking and it is something we have to speak up about, which we have done.”
Jaishankar said, “The second is they have their politics, but at the end of the day, we are neighbours, they have to make up their minds on what kind of relationship they want to have with us.”
The External Affairs Minister added: “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 one hand, say I would now like to have good relations with you, but I get up every morning and blame you for everything that goes wrong. It is also a decision that they have to make.”
Jaishankar further added that India has made its intentions clear with Dhaka. It would like to see things “calm down” and the resumption of normal bilateral ties, but it is unhappy with the constantly hostile messaging emanating from across the border.
The minister was in conversation with Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India (EAC-PM).
Ties between the two neighbouring countries have been tense over the last few months after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted in August 2024 by months-long student-led demonstrations against the quota system in Bangladesh.
Hasina fled Dhaka for New Delhi, where she remains as exclusively reported by ThePrint earlier. Led by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, the Bangladesh interim government sought Hasina’s extradition from India in December 2024.
The former Bangladesh PM continues to rankle the interim government, stepping up her political activities in recent weeks by making speeches to her supporters. Yunus’s office has urged India to prevent Hasina from making comments that could destabilise the interim government in Dhaka.
New Delhi a few weeks earlier asked Bangladesh to stop conflating Hasina with India. It went a step further and hit out at the persistent negativity from Dhaka while it summoned Bangladesh’s acting High Commissioner.
Furthermore, India has also highlighted the challenges to the welfare of minorities, including Hindus, in Bangladesh. New Delhi has consistently maintained that Dhaka must do more to protect the safety and security of minorities in the country. Bangladesh has rejected the attacks against minorities in the country and said they were fabricated by Indian media.
However, some high-level delegations have continued interactions with one another. Jaishankar has met his counterpart Touhid Hossain twice—on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September 2024 and in Muscat, Oman, last week.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri travelled to Dhaka in December 2024 for foreign office consultations. Last week, a director general-level conference was held between the Indian Border Security Forces (BSF) and the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB).
‘Looking into USAID’
Jaishankar also said that the Indian government is “looking into” the activities of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). This comes after allegations from the administration of President Donald Trump that the funding from the US aid government aid agency was going to destabilise foreign governments.
“Look, I think some information has been put out there by the Trump administration people, and obviously, that is concerning. It would suggest that there are activities which have a certain objective to push a narrative or a viewpoint.”
“I think as a government, we are looking into it. My sense is that the facts will come out,” said Jaishankar.
The external affairs minister added: “It is not a question of did you deal with USAID or not. USAID was allowed here in good faith. To do good faith activities. Now suggestions are being made out in America that there are activities which are in bad faith.”
The question of the role of USAID in India has created a political controversy between the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by billionaire Elon Musk, last Sunday announced a cancellation of a contract for allegedly transferring $21 million to India for voter turnout activities.
President Trump weighed into the controversy, calling the funding a “kickback scheme” before saying that the money was given to his “friend” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The BJP has accused the Congress of attempting to gain support from foreign nations to unseat Modi, while the largest opposition party has demanded answers regarding the activities of USAID in India.
The Ministry of External Affairs Friday called the matter “deeply troubling” and highlighted that the government is looking into it.
source : theprint