Bangladesh protests Assam CM’s ‘derogatory’ comments on pushbacks

Bangladesh has summoned India’s Acting High Commissioner Pawan Badhe, protesting “insulting” comments by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma over pushbacks into Bangladesh.

Israt Jahan, head of the South Asia Wing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, delievered a formal protest note during a meeting with the Indian envoy at the ministry on Thursday afternoon.

A senior foreign ministry official confirmed that Dhaka expressed “strong” resentment over the Assam CM's decision to label pushed-back individuals as "Bangladeshis".

The official noted that such remarks are "derogatory" and counterproductive to the bilateral relationship between the two neighbouring countries.

The diplomatic tension follows a post by Himanta on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) on Apr 26.

Himanta, a leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) known for his hardline rhetoric, shared photos of 20 individuals allegedly being pushed back into Bangladesh.

He captioned the post with a Hindi proverb, which roughly translates to "those who deserve a kicking do not listen to reason".

"Rude people don't understand soft language. We continuously remind ourselves of this prophetic line when we expel infiltrators from Assam who don't leave themselves. For instance, these 20 illegal Bangladeshis who were PUSHED BACK last night," Himanta wrote in the post on X.

Assam "will fight" and pushbacks "will continue," the chief minister wrote.