Jaishankar's strong message to Bangladesh: 'Make up mind on what kind of ties you want with India'

External affairs minister S Jaishankar

External affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Sunday that Bangladesh has to make up its mind on the kind of relationship it wants with India and firmly denounced statements made by the interim government against New Delhi.

Speaking days after meeting Bangladesh foreign minister Touhid Hossain in Muscat, Jaishankar called out the interim government in Dhaka for making hostile statements about New Delhi.

"We have a long and special history with Bangladesh going back to 1971. Things happened there last year [Sheikh Hasina's ouster]. But what is very troubling for India is the spate of attacks on the minorities ... obviously, it is something which impacts our thinking and we have to speak up about it, which we have done. The second is, they have their politics - you can agree, you can disagree... but at the end of the day, we are their neighbour, they have to make up their mind what kind of relationship they want with us (India)," Jaishankar said.

He said that Dhaka cannot be duplicitous about its stance on India.

"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 absolutely ridiculous. You cannot, on the 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 also a decision that they have to make," the minister said.

He added that the Narendra Modi government has sent a clear signal that it would like things to calm down in Bangladesh but does not appreciate the messaging in the country that is continuously hostile towards India.

During his recent meeting with interim government's foreign affairs advisor Touhid Hossain in Muscat, Jaishankar conveyed that Bangladesh "should not normalise terrorism".

Bangladesh is currently being led by Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus assisted by his team of advisors following the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.