Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina termed the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) as India’s ‘internal matter’, but also stated that the law was ‘not necessary’. According to the CAA, Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians from India will be given Indian citizenship by 31st December 2014 due to religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Demonstrations are going on in many places in India against this disputed law.
Hasina said in reference to India’s new citizenship law, “We do not understand why (the Indian government) did it.” It was not necessary. ‘ This statement by Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen. It comes after Abdul Momen’s statement that the CAA and NRC are India’s ‘internal affairs’, but had expressed concern that any ‘uncertainty’ there would have an impact on the neighborhood.
The media reporter said that Bangladesh has 10.7 per cent Hindu and 0.6 per cent Buddhists out of its 161 million population, and has denied anyone going to India due to religious persecution. In Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Hasina also said that there is no information about migrating people from India to Bangladesh. Hasina said, ‘No, no migrants are coming back from India. But inside India, people are facing many difficulties.
Hasina said, ‘(Even so), it is an internal matter. Bangladesh has always maintained that the CAA and NRC are India’s internal affairs. The Indian government has also repeatedly reiterated on its part that NRC is an internal exercise of India and Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi personally assured me of this during my visit to New Delhi in October 2019. He said that relations between Bangladesh and India are the best in the current era and cooperation is taking place in ‘broad areas’.
CAA-NRC is ‘internal matters’ of India : Sheikh Hasina
