India has issued a rebuttal to remarks made by Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam, who urged New Delhi to take action to protect the Muslim minority population in Murshidabad and across West Bengal.
In an official response that spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal posted on X on Friday, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) dismissed the comments from the Bangladeshi side as a “barely disguised and disingenuous attempt” to equate them with India’s repeated concerns regarding the persecution of minorities in Bangladesh.
The MEA stated: “We reject the remarks made by the Bangladesh side with regard to the incidents in West Bengal. This is a barely disguised and disingenuous attempt to draw a parallel with India’s concerns over the ongoing persecution of minorities in Bangladesh, where the criminal perpetrators of such acts continue to roam free.”
The ministry further added: “Instead of making unwarranted comments and indulging in virtue signalling, Bangladesh would do better to focus on protecting the rights of its own minorities.”
During a bilateral meeting earlier this month in Bangkok, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the issue directly with Bangladesh’s interim Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus.
In a press briefing at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka on Thursday, Shafiqul Alam expressed strong objection to what he described as India’s attempt to associate Bangladesh with communal violence in Murshidabad.
Dhaka dismisses allegations linking Bangladesh to Murshidabad violence“We strongly refute any attempts to implicate Bangladesh in the communal violence in Murshidabad,” he said. “We urge the government of India and West Bengal to take all steps to fully protect the minority Muslim population,” he added.
