NEW DELHI: India has received a note from Dhaka objecting to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's remarks offering shelter to people affected by violent-clashes in that country.
"I can confirm that we have received such a communication from the Bangladesh side. It is essentially on the lines described in the reports,"Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
"I would underline that under the 7th Schedule List 1 - Union List, Item 10 of our Constitution, the conduct of foreign affairs and all matters which bring the Union into relation with any foreign country, are the sole prerogative of the Union government," he said on Thursday.
The Bangladesh government is miffed with Mamata Banerjee after she made a statement at the Martyr’s Day rally of the Trinamool Congress on July 21 that her government would provide shelter to people from violence-hit Bangladesh "if they came knocking on our doors."
"With due respect to the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, I would like to say we have excellent relations with her, but her remarks created confusion to some extent and there is scope to be misled," said Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister, Hasan Mahmud, adding that they have informed the Indian government about this through a diplomatic note.
Bangladesh was reeling under deadly clashes with protesting students demanding the Sheikh Hasina-led government to scrap a controversial job quota system.
Nearly 6,700 Indians (mostly students) have returned from Bangladesh ever since violence marred the day-to-day functioning of the country.
There are close to 15,000 Indians living in Bangladesh, out of which 8,500 are students. Most of those who were impacted by the recent spate of violence were students, as the protests across the country were led by college and university students.
Life in Bangladesh is limping back to normalcy, but it will take some time for the dust to settle.