India not responsible for Hasina’s speech: Randhir Jaiswal

India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal has said that India is not responsible for the speech of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Bangladesh acting High Commissioner to India Md Nural Islam was summoned by India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to the South Block to convey India's position on Friday. Randhir Jaiswal said this at a press briefing after a meeting.

The MEA spokesperson said it was conveyed that India desires a positive, constructive and mutually beneficial relationship with Bangladesh, which has been reiterated several times in recent high-level meetings.

“It is, however, regrettable that regular statements made by Bangladesh authorities continue to portray India negatively, holding us responsible for internal governance issues,” he said.

These statements by Bangladesh are in fact responsible for the persistent negativity, said the MEA spokesperson in response to media queries on summoning the Bangladesh acting high commissioner.

Conflating this with the government of India’s position is not going to help add positivity to bilateral relations, he said.