'Not Afraid of Barbed Wire': Dhaka Responds to New Bengal CM's Border Fencing Call

New Delhi: Two days after Bharatiya Janata Party's new Bengal chief minister said that the state government has begun tranferring land to the Border Security Forces to fence the India-Bangladesh border, Dhaka said that Bangladesh is not "afraid of barbed wire."

Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's foreign affairs adviser M. Humayun Kabir told reporters on May 11 that the people and government of Bangladesh are not afraid of border fencing and would speak out whenever necessary to protect national interests, the state-run news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) has reported.

"Bangladesh is not afraid of barbed wire. Where we need to talk, we will talk," he said.

The Indian government has 'pushed back' several Bengali-speaking migrant labourers into Bangladesh in the recent past, many of whom have been able to produce proof of identity as Indians. Despite the rhetoric against "infiltration" from Bangladesh, the government has not released any figures on the number of illegal entries from the neighbouring country at the end of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bengal and Bihar – two states the BJP had claimed were particularly vulnerable to it.

The Bangladesh adviser said the India government must demonstrate a more humane approach in addressing border security issues if it seeks to strengthen people-to-people relations between the two neighbours.

"We don't want to become involved in their internal politics. Our relationship is primarily with the central government," he said, according to the BSS.

Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari had led a communal election campaign, vilifying the state's Muslim population several times. In the BJP's campaign rhetoric, 'Bangladesh' has grown to be a slur used for Indian Muslims living in Bengal. As a recent analysis of Adhikari's hate speech noted, when faced with sloganeering TMC workers outside a polling booth on April 29, the day Bengal’s second phase of voting was held, Adhikari brushed them aside, and pointing to the media present, said, “They are all Bangladeshi Muslims…all Bangladeshi Muslims.”

Kabir was reported as having said that election rhetoric and governance are two different matters, adding that Bangladesh would observe whether the new West Bengal administration translates its political rhetoric into state policy.

"Bangladesh wants to see whether the Adhikari government is following election rhetoric in governance," Kabir was quoted as having said by Times of India.

The adviser also said that "Bangladesh would not remain silent if border killings continue."

The Bangladesh news agency, however, highlighted that Kabir also seemed to underscore the importance of regional peace, stability and dialogue, saying Bangladesh remains committed to maintaining constructive relations with neighbouring and regional countries despite challenges.

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