New Delhi: Amid the ongoing strain in diplomatic relations between Bangladesh and India, the leading travel sector association in Tripura has declared that hotels and restaurants in the state will temporarily stop accepting bookings from tourists coming from Bangladesh.
In a statement, the All-Tripura Hotel and Restaurant Owners’ Association stated that hotels will not provide accommodation to Bangladeshi tourists, and restaurants will not serve meals to them. “All the hoteliers have to display a sticker poster in this concern at the reception which will be provided by the association,” the statement said. It declared that the hoteliers have vowed to “not provide service to Bangladeshi nationals w.e.f. December 2″.
The statement was issued on Monday as hundreds of people took part in a huge rally around the Bangladeshi mission in Agartala, the capital of Tripura, to protest against the arrest of a Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das in Bangladesh and the repeated attacks on minorities in the neighbouring country. More than 50 protesters allegedly barged into the premises of the Bangladeshi mission in Agartala, triggering chaos and panic among the officials and staff at the complex.
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‘Deeply regrettable’
Dubbing the incident as “deeply regrettable”, India said diplomatic and consular properties should not be targeted under any circumstances. In a post on X, the interim government in Bangladesh said it “deeply resents the violent attack into Assistant High Commission in Agartala this afternoon, vandalisation of the Mission premise and desecration of the Bangladesh flag”.
A six-member delegation from the Hindu Sangharsh Samity, which organised a protest rally against the atrocities on Hindus in Bangladesh, was permitted to enter the Assistant High Commission to submit a memorandum. Senior police officer Chiranjib Chakraborty told news agency PTI, “However, there was no breach of peace or trouble inside the Bangladesh mission, as we drove out the protesters quickly.”
India has asked the interim government in Bangladesh to fulfill its duty of protecting all minorities. The country has voiced deep concern over the growing extremist rhetoric and the spike in incidents of violence against Hindus.
Kolkata hospital refuses to treat Bangladeshi patients
On November 30, JN Ray Hospital in Kolkata declared that it would not provide treatment to Bangladeshi patients for an indefinite period, in the wake of the arrest of priest Chinmoy Das, incidents of violence against Hindus in the neighbouring country and alleged insult to the Indian national flag there. An official of the hospital had said that this was a protest against the atrocities on minorities in Bangladesh and the disrespect shown to the tricolour. Several doctors in West Bengal followed suit and announced that they would not treat patients from Bangladesh.
