New Delhi: Former Union Minister and Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar said that India should allow deposed Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to stay in the country as long as she wants. Appreciating the Centre’s efforts of sending foreign secretary Vikram Misri for talks to Dhaka, he added that ministerial contacts must also be established with the interim government of Bangladesh.
“I hope we will never disagree that Sheikh Hasina has done a lot of good for us. I am glad she was given refuge. I think we should be her host as long as she wants, even if it is for all her life,” Aiyar said while speaking to news agency PTI. Notably, Hasina (77) is currently staying in India ever since she left Bangladesh on August 5 following massive protests in the neighbouring country.
‘Hindus being attacked in Bangladesh for supporting Hasina’
Speaking further the Congress leaders observed that while its is true that Hindus are being attacked in Bangladesh, the same is is because of their support for Sheikh Hasina. “They (reports about attacks on Hindus) are true but exaggerated because many of the conflicts are more about the settlement of political differences,” he added. Aiyar further said, “There exists much more difference in me as a Tamil and my wife as a Punjabi, than between her and a Pakistani Punjabi.”
Aiyar’s jibe at BJP-led Centre
Further taking a jibe at the BJP-led Centre, the former Union Minister added, “We dare to undertake surgical strike but this government does not dare to sit across the table with them.” “They (Pakistan) thought they could bring Taliban to power in Afghanistan, (but) today their single biggest threat is the Taliban in Afghanistan,” he further observed while referring to Pakistan.
