India calls protest coverage ‘misleading propaganda’; Bangladesh rejects claim

India and Bangladesh exchanged sharp statements, with the latter rejecting the Indian foreign ministry’s explanation, rubbishing a protest outside the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi as “misleading propaganda.”India’s Ministry of External Affairs said around 20–25 youths gathered outside the mission on December 20 to protest the killing of Dipu Chandra Das in Bangladesh’s Mymensingh district and to demand protection for minorities.The ministry said there was no attempt to breach security, and police dispersed the group within minutes.“We have noted misleading propaganda in sections of the Bangladesh media on the incident,” Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, adding that visual evidence of the event was publicly available. India said it remained committed to ensuring the safety of foreign diplomatic missions under the Vienna Convention.India also said it was closely monitoring developments in Bangladesh and had conveyed its “strong concerns” to Bangladeshi authorities over attacks on minorities, urging that those responsible for Das’s killing be brought to justice.Bangladesh’s foreign ministry rejected India’s characterisation, calling it “unjustifiable” and saying that the protest created panic among staff inside the High Commission. It said the mission had not been given advance information about what it described as an “organised event”.Dhaka also sharply rejected any communal narrative. “We reject the attempt of the Indian authorities to depict an isolated attack on a Bangladeshi citizen, who happens to belong to the Hindu community, as attacks on minorities,” Bangladesh’s foreign ministry said, referring to Das’s death.The interim government said it remained committed to protecting minorities and stressed that all governments in the region had a responsibility to ensure minority safety within their own borders.Earlier in the day, India had suspended visa services at the Indian Visa Application Centre (IVAC) in Chattogram, Bangladesh, due to a separate protest that raised security concerns.That protest, triggered by the death of student leader Sharif Osman Hadi, had people chanting anti-India slogans, believing attackers fled to India. They also demanded that the Bangladesh government hold India accountable for alleged interference in the internal matters of Bangladesh.
(Edited by : Priyanka Deshpande)

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