People of Bangladesh are extremely taken aback by the recent repulsive comment made by the India's West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over Bangladesh. Her remark is not only untenable, but also abhorrent, objectionable and provocative from the point of view of international norms in maintaining bilateral relationships between the two friendly countries- Bangladesh and India.
Mamata on Monday made a call to the United Nations to deploy peacekeeping force in Bangladesh and called on her Prime Minister Norendra Modi to intervene personally to ensure the safety of religious minorities (Hindus) in Bangladesh.
She also stressed the importance of protecting lives and properties, particularly those who have familial ties with India, and urged Indian government to leverage international platforms to advocate for peace and security in the region.
This is, no doubt, a clear message to the Indian central government from the West Bengal Chief Minister to interfere into Bangladesh's internal affairs most likely to gain her local political mileage.
Mamata's unwarranted and uncalled for remark might have been linked to violent trespass by a large group of protesters of the Hindu Sangharsh Samity on the premises of the Assistant High Commission of Bangladesh in Agartala. This heinous attack has been described by the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry as the violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations adopted in 1961.
Not only that, in the wake of last week's arrest of former ISKCON leader Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari in Chattogram, some Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Bharatiya Janata Party in West Bengal staged a protest rally and threatened to impose a 'blockade' on the border with Bangladesh.
Suffice to say, Bangladesh-bashing across India mainly in our closest neighboring Indian state, West Bengal, which we believe is bound together with Bangladesh culturally and historically, has intensified by leaps and bounds after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on August 5.
Mamata Banerjee's attacking and nonchalant shrug towards Bangladesh is not something new. Evidently, our coveted Teesta water sharing deal with India could have been stamped had she not opposed to it. The treaty was supposed to be struck during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Bangladesh in 2011. But her objection made the then Indian central government back off the deal and subsequently deprived Bangladesh of its due share of Teesta water.
Since then, there has been little change in her hostile attitude towards Bangladesh and her latest derogatory remark is an example termed by Adviser of Foreign Affairs of the interim government Md Touhid Hossain as typical and consistent with her usual stance.
Reacting timely, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has come up with a strong statement demanding immediate withdrawal of Mamata's remark, describing it as a threat to Bangladesh's independence and sovereignty. Other political parties including Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh have strongly condemned Mamata's insinuating remark against Bangladesh.
Buttressing similar views, we also call on Mamata Banerjee to take back her statement and shun her vitriolic attack against Bangladesh in the coming days.
The Daily Observer also urges the Indian media and political leaders to refrain from any campaign and move that may hurt the sentiment of Bangladesh people and cast a shadow on the neighbourly relations between two countries that may escalate hostility and tension in this region.
