A day after Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted and arrived here after resigning, the Government informed Parliament it is monitoring the situation with regard to minorities in the neighbouring country and is in “close and continuous” touch with the Indian community there through its diplomatic missions. The Government also apprised MPs about Hasina’s “very short notice” request to come to India “for the moment.”
Taking note of the likely impact of the turmoil in Bangladesh on India, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also briefed an all-party meeting on the latest situation. He also did not rule out the role of foreign Government in the unrest there.
Home Minister Amit Shah, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar and National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval held a meeting to review the fast evolving situation in Bangladesh. They also took stock of the readiness of the forces on the India-Bangladesh border. Doval had met Hasina at the Hindon airbase on Monday.
In a statement in the Rajya Sabha, Jaishankar also briefed the Elders on Hasina’s “very short notice” request to come to India “for the moment”.
“There are an estimated 19,000 Indian nationals there, of which about 9,000 are students. The bulk of the students, however, have already returned to India in the month of July,” Jaishankar said.
Elaborating upon the sequence of events, he said “On August 5, demonstrators converged in Dhaka despite curfew. Our understanding is that after a meeting with leaders of the security establishment, Hasina apparently made the decision to resign. At very short notice, she requested approval to come for the moment to India.”
“We simultaneously received a request for flight clearance from Bangladesh authorities. She arrived yesterday evening in Delhi. The situation in Bangladesh is still evolving,” he said. “Army Chief General Waqar-uz-Zaman , addressed the nation on August 5. He spoke about assuming responsibility and constituting an interim Government. We are in close and continuous touch with the Indian community in Bangladesh through our diplomatic missions,” Jaishankar said.
India is also monitoring the situation with regard to the status of minorities, he said.
In the all party-meeting, Jaishankar informed them India has assured help to Hasina, who arrived here on Monday evening, and given her time to decide the future course of action, sources said.
Briefing political party leaders in Parliament House, Jaishankar said India has spoken to the Bangladesh Army Chief to ensure the safety of over 10,000 Indian students in that country, the sources said.
Replying to questions from various leaders, including Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, the minister did not rule out the role of foreign governments in the unrest in the country but emphasised that the situation was too fluid, and the government has been keeping a watch on the evolving situation, they said. In the meeting, Rahul Gandhi asked if foreign governments might be involved in fuelling the crisis there.
Jaishankar said that households and properties belonging to minorities were targeted by protestors in the neighbouring country.
Noting that it has been not even 24 hours since Hasina arrived in India, he said she is in a state of shock and the government is giving her time to recover before it speaks to her over various issues, including her future plans, the sources said.
Various leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, conveyed their full cooperation to the government on the issue. YSR Congress leader V Vijaysai Reddy said his party supports the government in the interest of the country.
“Briefed an All-Party meeting in Parliament today about the ongoing developments in Bangladesh. Appreciate the unanimous support and understanding that was extended,” Jaishankar said in a social media post after the meeting.
The all-party meeting was attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Health Minister J P Nadda, JD(U) leader and Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh ‘Lalan’, JD(S) leader and Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, DMK leader T R Baalu, SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav, Trinamool leader Sudip Bandypapdhyay, NCP leader Supriya Sule among others.
The AAP claimed that despite having 13 Members in Parliament — 3 in Lok Sabha and 10 in Rajya Sabha — it was not invited to be part of the all-party meeting.
“The issue of national security does not depend on who the prime minister is happy or angry with. Not inviting the Aam Aadmi Party, a national party with 13 MPs, to this important all-party meeting shows the petty mentality and lack of seriousness of the government,” AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said in a social media post in Hindi.
Singh said he hoped for an elected government to be established in Bangladesh to preserve the values of democracy and peace. “Now, whatever government is formed there, it should have good relations with India. Along with this, we also need to keep an eye on the borders at this time,” he added.
CPI(M) member P Santosh Kumar said the situation in Bangladesh was very volatile. “We are with the people of Bangladesh, not with Jamaat-e-Islami, military or with Sheikh Hasina. We are with students of Bangladesh. This is the fate of all autocrats,” Kumar said.
Samajwadi Party member Virendra Singh said the situation in Bangladesh was a message for all countries which do not listen to people’s voices.
“Similar situations happen in countries where attempts to end democracy and bring dictatorship take place. It is very unfortunate,” Singh said.
BJP Rajya Sabha member Lahar Singh Siroya said the government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are keeping an eye on the whole issue. “They would have been taking necessary steps. Our country is capable of handling the issue,” the BJP Rajya Sabha member said.
The Border Security Force (BSF) has asked locals residing along the 4,096 km-long India-Bangladesh international border to not undertake unnecessary movement in the frontier areas especially during the night in the wake of the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government in Dhaka, officials said on Tuesday.
The border force has also asked all its units to “maintain an alert posture” all along the front that runs across West Bengal (2,217 km), Tripura (856 km), Meghalaya (443 km), Assam (262 km) and Mizoram (318 km).
BSF Director General (Acting) Daljit Singh Chawdhary continued his border tour for the second day as he visited the Petrapole land port station, the largest such facility in South Asia located at a distance of about 80 km from Kolkata. The DG was accompanied by senior officers of the South Bengal Frontier of the force headquartered at Kolkata, officials said.
They said the situation along the India-Bangladesh border is normal and added that the villagers and locals along the border areas in the five states have been asked to not undertake any unnecessary movement, especially during night
These restrictions are already in place but now they are being reinforced further as the troops are on extra alert against any suspicious or criminal activity including illegal crossings, another officer from the eastern command of the BSF said.
The BSF has deployed about 87 battalions for the security of the entire border area as part of its six frontiers.
