Bangladesh Lodges Formal Complaint Against Mamata Banerjee's ‘Open Door’ Remark

The Bangladesh government has formally complained to the Indian High Commission about remarks made by Mamata Banerjee regarding the situation in Bangladesh.

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The Bangladesh government has lodged a formal complaint with the Indian High Commission regarding remarks made by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee about the situation in Bangladesh, reported ANI citing sources. This comes after Banerjee expressed her willingness to welcome Bangladesh refugees into the state. 

“If helpless people come knocking on the doors of Bengal, we will surely provide them shelter,” Banerjee said during TMC's 'Martyrs Day' rally in Kolkata. 

She further added, “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.” However, she justified her stance by the United Nations Resolution for refugees’ accommodation in neighbouring state. 

According to ANI, the Bangladesh government informed the Indian High Commission that the situation described in Mamata Banerjee's post on X, referring to a United Nations resolution, does not exist in Bangladesh.  

The Bangladesh Government has raised strong objections to the comments of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee on situation in Bangladesh with the High Commission of India. Bangladesh govt has said that the tweet of Mamata Banerjee was provocative and had false elements concerning the…

— ANI (@ANI) July 24, 2024

The Bangladesh authorities informed that they are trying to bring back the state of normalcy and in such critical times such comments, particularly the assurance of providing refuge to people, could provoke many, especially terrorists and miscreants, to exploit this announcement.

The country is gripped in violent protests that claimed at least 139 lives in a week. Following which the Bangladesh Supreme Court abolished the contentious job quota system on Sunday. The demonstrations began a month ago when the High Court reinstated the quota system for government jobs, overturning a 2018 decision by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government to eliminate it. This system, which allocated 30% of jobs to families of those who participated in the 1971 war for independence from Pakistan, had been previously removed after similar student protests.