New Delhi: Signalling that the description of a mural on the new parliament building by a BJP minister as ‘Akhand Bharat’ continues to have diplomatic ripples, the Bangladesh government on Monday, June 5, asked for “further clarification”.
However, the tone of the country’s junior foreign minister Shahriar Alam hinted that the government’s move was forced by pressure due to local perception rather than any objection to the mural, which the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson had said was of the Ashokan Empire and not the revanchist idea which seeks to expand India’s boundaries across the subcontinent.
According to Dhaka Tribune, Bangladesh’s minister of state for foreign affairs Alam said that the Bangladesh Embassy in Delhi “has been instructed” to contact India’s MEA to “get India’s official explanation on this matter”.
He told reporters on Monday afternoon that there was “no reason to express doubts” about the explanation that the Indian MEA had offered after protests erupted in Nepal against the mural. But for “further clarification”, the government has asked the mission in Delhi to “speak to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs to find out what their official explanation is”, Alam said.
“What we learnt is that India’s Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson said that this is a map of the Ashoka Empire, 300 years before the birth of Christ. It includes a map of the area at that time and a mural. The mural depicts the journey of people. There may be cultural similarities, but it has nothing to do with politics,” he said, according to Dhaka Tribune.
The issue was kicked up after Union parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi tweeted a photo of the mural with the caption, “the resolve is clear – Akhand Bharat”.
There were street protests in Nepal about the mural, with some politicians saying that the move could aggravate the trust deficit that already exists between Kathmandu and Delhi.
Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson Mumtaz Baloch was “appalled” at Joshi’s statement. “The gratuitous assertion of ‘Akhand Bharat’ is a manifestation of a revisionist and expansionist mindset that seeks to subjugate the identity and culture of not only India’s neighbouring countries but also its own religious minorities,” she stated.
Last week, Indian MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the mural was not about ‘Akhand Bharat’, but rather the expanse of the ancient Mauryan empire.
“The mural in question depicts the spread of the Ashokan empire and the idea of responsible and people-oriented governance that he adopted and propagated. That’s what the mural and the plaque in front of the mural says. And I really don’t have anything further to add to that,” Bagchi stated.
He did not comment on Joshi’s tweet, saying, “I’m certainly not going to comment on statements that other political leaders might have made.”