A day after ousted Bangladesh prime minister Shaikh Hasina, who is in exile in India, addressed her supporters virtually, Dhaka lodged a strong protest with New Delhi over the “false and fabricated comments” made by her.
Hasina’s speech sparked off widespread protests in Bangladesh with her father and Bangladesh founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's residence in Dhaka being vandalised. Several Awami League leaders and their properties were also targeted in multiple cities.
#WATCH | Bangladesh | A mob vandalised Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s memorial and residence at Dhanmondi 32 in Dhaka, demanding a ban on the Awami League. Reports link the protest to an online speech by former PM Sheikh Hasina. pic.twitter.com/UodpJrDTgT
— ANI (@ANI) February 5, 2025
The Bangladesh foreign ministry said it has asked New Delhi to “immediately take appropriate measures, in the spirit of mutual respect and understanding, to stop her from making such false, fabricated and incendiary statements using social media and other communications while she is in India".
The ministry said it lodged a "strong protest with the Government of India over the false fabricated comments and statements continuously being made in different platforms including social media, by the former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, instigating instability in Bangladesh".
Foreign Affairs Adviser M. Touhid Hossain said Hasina’s statements were highly aggressive and could have offended the sentiments of the younger generation.
"We called India's deputy high commissioner (Pawan Badhe), as the high commissioner was not here, and handed him our protest note," he said.
Hossain alleged that Dhaka had earlier urged New Delhi to restrain Hasina from engaging in such activities, but it received no response. “We will observe what actions India takes," he added.
According to the foreign ministry, the protest note handed over to the Indian diplomat conveyed the "deep concern, disappointment and serious reservation" of Bangladesh.
Such activities by Hasina are considered as a hostile act towards Bangladesh and are not conducive to the efforts at establishing a healthy relationship between the two countries, it further said.
Hasina, in her address, had called the countrymen to organise a resistance against the current regime.
"They can demolish a building, but not the history... but they must also remember that history takes its revenge," she said after protesters vandalised her father’s residence.
