Amit Shah terms Bangladeshis as 'termite', Dhaka says comment 'unwanted'
Dhaka Sept 24 (IBNS): Following Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Amit Shah's description of Bangladeshis as "termite", the Bangladesh government has reacted sharply saying the saffron party chief's comment was "unwanted", media reports said.
Bangladesh's Minister of Information Hasanul Haq Inu told The Hindu that Shah was not qualified to speak on India-Bangladesh relationship.
He also said India's Home Minister Rajnath Singh had assured Dhaka that people (40 lakhs), who were excluded from Assam's National Register of Citizens (NRC), will not be sent to Bangladesh.
Inu has been quoted by The Hindu as saying, "Amit Shah has made an unwanted remark by describing Bangladeshis as termites. We in Dhaka do not give any importance to his statement as it does not carry the gravity of an official statement of India.
"We have maintained that the NRC process in Assam and the welfare of the Bengali-speaking citizens of India are internal issues of India,” Mr Inu said, explaining that India’s official position has been conveyed by Mr. Rajnath Singh already."
"Minister of Home Affairs of India Rajnath Singh as well as Indian High Commissioner Harsh Vardhan Shringla, based in Dhaka, have assured us that the NRC process of Assam is an internal issue of India and that not a single Bengali-speaking person will be sent to Bangladesh," the senior Bangladesh Minister added.
Inu's statement came after Shah, who was addressing his party's rally in Rajasthan on Saturday, said Bangladeshi citizens had infiltrated into India.
He further said as he has been quoted by The Hindu, "..the infiltrators have eaten our country like termites".
The Assam NRC, which excluded 40 lakh people, had also raised political storms in the country with several opposition parties attacking the ruling BJP over the move.
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