Expressing concern over the situation in Bangladesh, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday said India cannot afford to be indifferent to the developments and asserted that peace and progress in the neighbouring country is “in our interest”.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has resigned and an interim government is taking over, Army Chief General Waqar-uz-Zaman announced in Dhaka on Monday, in a dramatic development amid massive protests against her government that claimed more than 100 lives in the last two days.
Reacting to the developments in Bangladesh, Tharoor said, “It is very worrying, as you know some 300 lives have been lost since July 1 when the problem started…that has already been a matter of grave concern to all of us.”
“Bangladesh is our neighbouring country and the people there are our own brothers and sisters or cousins at the very least and what happens there, effects our neighbourhood in a very intimate way. Bangladesh is a country surrounded by India from three sides…so that is an extremely important concern,” the former minister of state for external affairs told PTI.
Tharoor said the change of government in Bangladesh is “unsettling”.
The elections in that country had gone by peacefully not so long ago but obviously, controversially, because the principal opposition did not participate, he pointed out.