India Warns Bangladesh: Stay Out of Our Affairs, Address Your Own Issues

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu )- India on Thursday strongly rejected Bangladesh's statement about the violence in West Bengal during protests over the Waqf Amendment Act. The Ministry of External Affairs took a serious note of Dhaka's comments and called it a "veiled and insidious" attempt to equate India's concerns about persecution of minorities in Bangladesh with India's concerns about violence in West Bengal.

On Wednesday, Bangladesh urged India and the West Bengal government to take all necessary steps to protect the minority Muslim population amid violence in the state. "We reject the comments made by Bangladesh regarding the incidents in West Bengal," foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement. "This is a veiled and insidious attempt to draw a parallel with India's concerns over the continued persecution of minorities in Bangladesh, where the perpetrators of such acts are still roaming freely. Instead of making inappropriate comments, Bangladesh should focus on protecting the rights of its minorities," the statement said.

According to media reports, at least three people were killed and hundreds were rendered homeless in violence in Murshidabad's Suti, Dhuliyan, Samserganj and Jangipur areas last weekend in protest against the Waqf (Amendment) Act, following which central forces were deployed and internet services were suspended. Shafiqul Alam, press secretary of Bangladesh interim government's chief adviser Mohammad Yunus, said on Thursday, "We strongly refute any attempt to involve Bangladesh in communal violence in Murshidabad. We appeal to the Government of India and West Bengal to take all steps to fully protect the minority Muslim population."