New Delhi: Two days after former Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina gave a virtual speech in New Delhi, the Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said it is “shocked and surprised” that she was allowed to do so.
The speech, it added, “sets a dangerous precedent vis-a-vis the future of Bangladesh-India relations”.
“The Government and the people of Bangladesh are surprised and shocked that fugitive Sheikh Hasina, who has been convicted by the International Crimes Tribunal for committing crimes against humanity, was allowed to make a statement at a public event in New Delhi on 23rd January in which she openly called for the removal of the Government of Bangladesh and issued blatant incitements to her party loyalists and general public to carry out acts of terror in order to derail the upcoming general elections in Bangladesh,” the ministry said in a statement Sunday.
Hasina, in her first formal address in India since her ouster in 2024, addressed reporters and alleged that “the murderous, fascist” Muhammad Yunus had turned Bangladesh into “a blood soaked nation”. She then asked everyone to urge the interim administration to allow them to contest the upcoming elections.
In the past two weeks, Hasina’s former cabinet ministers held two press conferences in New Delhi. One held in the Press club of India, was a rebuttal of the UN OHCHR report which claimed that the Hasina government killed 1,400 people in the student uprising of 2024.
In its most recent press conference held Friday, former foreign minister A.K. Abdul Momen and former education minister Mohibul Hassan Chowdhury Nowfel alleged that the Awami League was deliberately being kept out of polls. Nowfel also claimed that if permitted to contest, the League would win 70 percent of its seats.
Bangladesh is set to go to polls on 12 February.
Condemning such statement, the MoFA said that “allowing the event to take place in the Indian capital and letting mass murderer Hasina to openly deliver her hate speech are contrary to the norms of inter-State relations, including the principles of respect for sovereignty, non interference and good neighbourliness, and constitute a clear affront to the people and the Government of Bangladesh.”
“It sets a dangerous precedent vis-a-vis the future of Bangladesh-India relations and may seriously impair the ability of the future elected polity in Bangladesh to engage, shape and nurture mutually beneficial bilateral relations.”
The statement added that such statements impact and ‘endangers Bangladesh’s democratic transition and peace and security.”
“Bangladesh is deeply aggrieved that while India is yet to act on her obligations to hand Sheikh Hasina over to Bangladesh under the bilateral extradition agreement despite repeated requests by the Bangladesh Government, she has instead been allowed to make such inciteful pronouncements from its own soil,” it added.
Justifying the interim ban of Awami League’s political activities, the statement said that its “unabashed incitements” yet again demonstrated why the interim government had to impose a ban.
Bangladesh, the MoFA said, would hold the Awami League “responsible for committing incidents of violence and terror in the run up to the elections and on the election day, and will take appropriate actions to foil its evil conspiracies.”
(Edited by Tony Rai)