United News of Bangladesh

New Delhi’s desire for friendly relations is at odds with allowing former prime minister Sheikh Hasina to make anti-Bangladesh statements or engage in political activities from Indian soil, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed said on Saturday. “On the one hand, India wants friendly relations with Bangladesh while on the other, it allows a convict and fugitive accused, Sheikh Hasina, to make anti-Bangladesh statements or engage in political activities from Indian soil. These two positions are completely contradictory,” he said at a discussion as the chief guest at the Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Building auditorium of Dhaka University. The minister expressed hope that the Indian government would understand the matter and stop playing the “Hasina card.” The discussion titled “The Role of University Teachers in the Fall of the Fascist Government” was organised jointly by Dhaka University’s Sada Dal Panel and the University Teachers’ Association of Bangladesh (UTAB) to mark the second anniversary of the July Mass Uprising of 2024. Calling for the preservation of the spirit of the July uprising and “iron-clad national unity,” the home minister said Bangladesh must complete democratic reforms through democratic practices and tolerance while preventing any resurgence of “fascism”. He said the victory achieved through 17 years of democratic struggle and the sacrifices of hundreds of thousands of people could not be used as a tool by any particular group to monopolise the spirit of the movement. Salahuddin said the interim government formed on Aug 8, 2024, under Article 106 of the Constitution was the result of the aspirations of the country’s pro-democracy people. He said Sheikh Hasina’s fall came through the mass uprising against 17 years of repression, enforced disappearances, killings and deprivation of voting rights. “The politics of the Awami League and Sheikh Hasina has died in Dhaka and been buried in Delhi, ” he said adding people could no longer be misled through “politics of selling the spirit”.