Bangladesh protests against Amit Shah's comments about 'infiltrators'

Bangladesh on Monday protested against comments made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah regarding Bangladeshi nationals during his visit to Jharkhand last week.

In a statement, Bangladesh's foreign ministry called the comments “highly regrettable.”

At a rally in the poll-bound Jharkhand on September 20, Shah reiterated the claim that Bangladeshi nationals were infiltrating the state. He vowed that if the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in Jharkhand, it would rid the state of “Rohingya and Bangladeshi invaders” and “hang them upside down”, he reported The Hindu.

On Monday, the Bangladesh ministry handed over a note of protest to India's Deputy High Commissioner in Dhaka.

“The ministry expressed its serious reservation, deep sense of hurt and extreme displeasure and requested the Government of India to advise political leaders to desist from making such objectionable and unacceptable remarks,” the ministry said.

It added that such statements “coming from positions of responsibility against the nationals of a neighboring country undermine the spirit of mutual respect and understanding between two friendly countries.”

On September 20, while speaking in Jharkhand's Sahibganj, Shah claimed that demographics in certain parts of the state were changing due to the alleged infiltration of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis.

“Slogans are being raised in Pakur district asking Hindus and Adivasis to leave Jharkhand,” Shah said. “Tell me, does this land belong to Adivasis or Rohingya, invaders from Bangladesh?”

In the run-up to the parliamentary elections, several Bharatiya Janata Party Leaders have alleged that “Bangladeshi invaders” married Adivasi women to seize their land and property and use them as proxies to seize power in the region.

A Scroll Investigation has determined that such claims are false.

Asha Lakra, a BJP politician and member of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, had also alleged that 10 elected Adivasi women in nine panchayats in Sahibganj were married to “Bangladeshi infiltrators, Rohingya Muslims”.

Scroll found that four of the ten cases cited by Lakra were false. Three of the women had Adivasi husbands. The fourth, Kapra Tudu, had married outside the Adivasi community but her husband, Nitin Saha, is Hindu and not Muslim.

In six cases where Adivasi panchayat leaders were actually married to Muslims, everyone provided information Scroll They married of their own free will. “The Indian Constitution gives us the freedom to marry whomever we want,” said one.

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