Dhaka must decide the ties it wants with Delhi

Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar yesterday said Dhaka needs to "make up its mind" what kind of relationship it wants with New Delhi, stressing that the two neighbours share a special history that goes back to 1971.

"If someone in the interim government blames India for everything every day … some of those things [they blame on India], if you look at the reports, [they] are absolutely ridiculous," he said during a conversation with Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India (EAC-PM), at the Delhi University Literature Festival.

"You cannot, on one hand, say I would now like to have good relations with you, but I get up every morning and blame you for everything that goes wrong. It is a decision that they have to make," Jaishankar added.

He said India has sent a very clear signal to Dhaka that it would like to see things "calm down" and the resumption of normal bilateral ties. But it is unhappy with the constant hostile messaging emanating from across the border.

Jaishankar shared two aspects of what is "very troubling" for them.

"Firstly, the spate of attacks on minorities in Bangladesh. Obviously, it is something which impacts our thinking and it is something we have to speak up about and we have done so," he said.

Secondly, he said, despite taking into consideration the internal politics in Bangladesh, the two countries are neighbours with a shared history.

"We have a long history with Bangladesh. We have a very special history with Bangladesh. It goes back to 1971," Jaishankar said.

He said Dhaka cannot claim to want normal ties with India while continuously blaming New Delhi for its domestic issues.

"They have to make up their minds on what kind of relationship they want to have with us," he said.