Hope BJP wins in Assam & Bengal won’t trigger ‘pushbacks’: Dhaka

DHAKA/NEW DELHI: “I hope no such incident will happen,” said Bangladesh home minister Salahuddin Ahmed on Wednesday when asked if he feared a rise in cases of suspected illegal immigrants being “pushed back” — forcibly expelled — from India into Bangladesh after BJP’s poll victories in bordering Assam and West Bengal. Illegal migration and ‘pushbacks’ have been a thorny issue in Indo-Bangladesh ties. Earlier on Tuesday, Bangladesh foreign minister Khalilur Rahman was quoted on the governing BNP’s official Facebook page as saying that Dhaka would act if such incidents occurred amid the “change of power” in West Bengal. Though former PM Sheikh Hasina’s stay in India after her 2024 ouster and a pending extradition request remain concerns for Dhaka, the “pushback” issue is seen by many in Bangladesh as a hurdle to ties. In New Delhi, meeting a delegation of Bangladeshi journalists, foreign secretary Vikram Misri said, “We have weathered a testing time,” adding, “We are getting down to reactivating all tools of bilateral relations and contacts.” Bangladesh and India have over 40 bilateral mechanisms covering trade, border management, consular issues and water, including the 2011 Teesta river water-sharing pact blocked by Mamata Banerjee