Dhaka has registered its protest with the Indian government about West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s recent comment on offering shelter to “helpless” Bangladeshis amid the deadly anti-quota stir, the country’s foreign minister Hasan Mahmud said on Tuesday.

The Bangladeshi government has sent an official note to New Delhi on the matter, said Mahmud.

“With due respect to the West Bengal chief minister, with whom we share a very close relationship, we want to make it clear that her comments have a lot of scope for confusion,” India Today quoted Mahmud as saying in Bangla.

Advertisement

At the Martyr’s Day rally in Kolkata on Sunday, Banerjee said that her state will keep its doors open and offer shelter to persons in distress from Bangladesh.

“I should not be speaking on the affairs of Bangladesh since that is a sovereign nation and whatever needs to be said on the issue is a subject matter of the Centre,” Banerjee had said. “But I can tell you this, if helpless people come knocking on the doors of Bengal, we will surely provide them shelter.”

Also read: Bangladesh protests: By backing Sheikh Hasina, India is undermining its own interests

Banerjee cited a United Nations resolution on refugees to justify her stand. “That’s because there is a United Nations resolution to accommodate refugees in regions adjacent to those under turmoil,” PTI quoted Banerjee as saying.

Advertisement

The chief minister’s comments came amid protests that have left at least 174 persons dead, according to AFP. The toll is hard to assess because of a communications blackout that was imposed in the country.

The protests are in response to a High Court ruling in June that reinstated the 30% quota in government jobs for family members of freedom fighters of the 1971 Bangladeshi Liberation War.

The reservation system, which was abolished in 2018 following widespread protests, rekindled anger among young job seekers and students who feared that they would be deprived of opportunities because of the quota.

Advertisement

Earlier this month, the stir snowballed into one of the largest agitations against the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina-led government, which has been in power uninterrupted since 2009.

On Friday, Bangladesh imposed a nationwide curfew after the protests in the capital Dhaka grew violent. The Army was also deployed in Dhaka to restore order. A day later, the police also imposed a “shoot-on-sight” order across the country, the Associated Press reported.

On Sunday, Bangladesh’s Supreme Court scaled back most of the quotas in government jobs, according to reports. The country’s top court directed 93% of government jobs to be open to candidates without quotas, setting aside the lower court’s ruling.

Advertisement

Banerjee on Sunday also appealed to the residents of West Bengal not to get provoked over matters relating to the unrest in Bangladesh. “We should exercise restraint and not walk into any provocation or excitement on the issue,” Banerjee said.

Union minister Sukanta Majumdar, who is also the Bharatiya Janata Party’s state chief, criticised Banerjee on Sunday saying that the Centre should be consulted in matters involving foreign policy before making public statements.

West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose on Monday sought a report from Banerjee on her comment. The governor’s office said that handling matters pertaining to foreign policy were is the Centre’s prerogative.

Advertisement

“Public statement by a chief minister undertaking the responsibility to provide shelter to people who may be coming in from a foreign nation implies Constitutional transgression of a very serious nature,” the Raj Bhavan said in a statement.

Also read: