Parliamentary panel urges Centre to make ‘stable’ relation with Bangladesh: Shashi Tharoor

New Delhi: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said that the Parliamentary Committee on External Affairs has urged the Centre to make relations with trouble-torn Bangladesh ‘stable’.

Tharoor, who is also the chairman of the panel, said: ‘I am very disappointed by this news coming from Bangladesh. The Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament just issued a report in which we urged the government to engage constructively with the government of Bangladesh and try to move relations to a stable level’.

Expanding on it further Tharoor said that India being instrumental in the neighbouring country’s freedom in 1971 has a ‘great stake’ in the relation with the country, adding ‘we can’t suddenly abandon the people of Bangladesh. At the same time the kind of hostility that is being drummed up against Indians, against people deemed to be on the Indian side is very worrying’.

Rajya Sabha MP and former diplomat Harsh Vardhan Shringla reportedly said in the event of any government promoting ‘anti-Indian’ activities, that country must be prepared for ‘an equal reaction’.

‘There seems to be some escalation, which can be attributed to upcoming elections likely in February. Elements exploiting minority anti-India sentiment are trying to promote their own interests. It was appropriate that the government and the Ministry of External Affairs called in the Bangladesh High Commissioner to make clear that activities against our consulates, risking the lives of diplomats, property, and minority communities, must not be tolerated. Any government that wants good relations with India must understand that promoting anti-Indian activities will invite a commensurate response,’ Shringla reportedly said.