EAM Jaishankar sends strong message to Bangladesh, asks it to define its ties with India

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has issued a strong message to Bangladesh asking it to make up its mind on the kind of relationship it wants with India while rebuking its interim government's hostile statements against New Delhi.

Jaishankar called out the interim government days after meeting Bangladesh foreign minister Touhid Hossain in Muscat.

He firmly said that Dhaka can't show duplicity about its stance on India.

"We have a long and special history with Bangladesh going back to 1971. Things happened there last year [Sheikh Hasina's ouster]. But what is very troubling for India is the spate of attacks on the minorities ... obviously, it is something which impacts our thinking and we have to speak up about it, which we have done," )," Jaishankar said.

During his meeting with Hossain, Jaishankar said that Bangladesh “should not normalize terrorism.”

"The second is, they have their politics - you can agree, you can disagree... but at the end of the day, we are their neighbor, they have to make up their mind what kind of relationship they want with us (India)," he 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 the 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," the EAM said.

Jaishankar also said that the Narendra Modi government has clearly said it would like things to calm down in Bangladesh. However, it does not appreciate Bangladesh's continuous hostile response towards India.

Currently, Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus is heading the interim government following the ouster of ex-prime minister Sheikh Hasina on August 5 last year.