Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.
Credit: PTI File photo
New Delhi: Expressing concern over the situation in Bangladesh, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday said India cannot afford to be indifferent to the developments and asserted that peace and progress in the neighbouring country is "in our interest".
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has resigned and an interim government is taking over, Army Chief General Waqar-uz-Zaman announced in Dhaka on Monday, in a dramatic development amid massive protests against her government that claimed more than 100 lives in the last two days.
Reacting to the developments in Bangladesh, Tharoor said, "It is very worrying, as you know some 300 lives have been lost since July 1 when the problem started...that has already been a matter of grave concern to all of us."
"Bangladesh is our neighbouring country and the people there are our own brothers and sisters or cousins at the very least and what happens there, effects our neighbourhood in a very intimate way. Bangladesh is a country surrounded by India from three sides...so that is an extremely important concern," the former minister of state for external affairs told PTI.
Tharoor said the change of government in Bangladesh is "unsettling".
The elections in that country had gone by peacefully not so long ago but obviously, controversially, because the principal opposition did not participate, he pointed out.
"Now we are looking at a whole new government within months of the re-election of the old government," he said.
"This was a government with which we had close relations for the last 15 years. But that has two sides to it, on the one hand close relations with this government, but on the other hand, no relations with the opposition and the other forces. There is a risk that the alternatives that have come to power, may be hostile or relatively less friendly to India and that too has some consequences for us," the Congress leader said.
"Then there is the question that there may be continuing unrest and there may be more displacement of people and we have had the experience of refugees coming from Bangladesh. That is the issue our decision makers will have to grapple with," he said.
Tharoor said the final concern that he has is the future of Bangladesh as a country.
"We have every interest in peace, stability, return to normal life and economic growth in Bangladesh. I don't think we can afford to be indifferent. Peace and progress in Bangladesh is in our interest," he asserted.