Bangladeshi Foreign Affairs Adviser Md. Touhid Hossain said on February 24 that Delhi needs to decide what kind of relationship India wants with Bangladesh.

The state-run Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) says he made the remarks when asked to comment on recent statements by Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar regarding Bangladesh and India’s bilateral relations.

“He (Jaishankar) mentioned that Bangladesh must decide what kind of relationship it wants with India. Of course, Bangladesh will determine its stance. But at the same time, India must decide what kind of relationship it wants with Bangladesh. It is a mutual matter, and there is nothing wrong in stating that,” Hossain told reporters at the foreign ministry, the BSS reports.

The adviser reaffirmed that Bangladesh has a clear stance on its relations with India, emphasizing the importance of a good working relationship based on mutual respect and shared interests. “We want a relationship built on mutual understanding, and there is no ambiguity in our position,” he said.

Hossain also criticized the statements made by Bangladesh’s ousted former Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, during her political exile in India. He claimed that her remarks were detrimental to Dhaka-Delhi relations.

Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar urged Bangladesh to decide on the nature of its relationship with India, highlighting issues of blame and minority attacks.

The Times of India reported on February 24 that he emphasized the importance of clear intentions for the future while acknowledging the historical ties.

After India called upon authorities in Dhaka not to spread negativity in the relationship, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar again raised the issue of its hostile behavior, saying Bangladesh has to make up its mind what kind of relationship it wants with India.

The Times of India said that speaking a week after meeting with his counterpart Touhid Hossain in Muscat barely, the minister said the interim government in Bangladesh couldn’t claim it wants good relations with India and at the same time blame India for everything that goes wrong domestically.

“If every day someone in the interim government stands up and blames India for everything, some of those things, if you look at the reports, are ridiculous. On the one hand, you cannot 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 also a decision they must make,” said Jaishankar, addressing a public event on February 22.

He said there are two aspects to the problems that the bilateral ties are facing, the first being the communal attacks on minorities.

“The spate of attacks on minorities in Bangladesh is something that impacts our thinking, and it is something we have to speak up about, which we have done. The second aspect is they have their politics, but at the end of the day, the two countries are neighbors,” he said.

“They have to decide what kind of relationship they want with us. We have a long history with Bangladesh. We have a very special history with Bangladesh. It goes back to 1971,” Jaishankar added.

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