Photo : Collected
BNP Chairperson’s Advisory Council Member Zainul Abedin Farroque on Tuesday (2 June) said despite the government's claims of having excellent relations with India, the people of Bangladesh are still deprived of their fair share of water from Teesta and other common rivers that flow through both countries.
"You (Sheikh Hasina) went to India twice in a week. What great relations! What love and affection! You send mangoes, litchis, and hilsa to India, but return empty-handed from there. You can’t ensure the just sharing of water," he said.
Speaking at a sit-in programme, the BNP leader said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has long been generously giving everything to India without gaining anything for Bangladesh.
Farroque, also a former opposition chief whip in parliament, said the Prime Minister signed 10 Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with India during her recent tour to New Delhi, putting Bangladesh’s independence and sovereignty at stake.
“Though you (PM) have failed to resolve the water problem with India, you signed a MoU allowing India to set up railway lines over our land. You're a failed regime," he observed.
The BNP leader said the country’s people have started raising their voices against the government’s misdeeds and the anti-state deals with India.
Gonotantra Forum, a pro-opposition platform, arranged the program in front of the Jatiya Press Club to protest the ‘illegal’ deals with India and the widespread corruption.
Farroque slammed Awami League General Secretary Obaidur Quader for blaming West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the failure to resolve the Teesta River water-sharing problem.
“Indeed, the General Editor of the Awami League is truly in distress. Every day he discovers something new… Mr. Obaidul Quader, by blaming someone else, your disrespectful behaviour towards Bangladesh's sovereignty has once again been proven,” he said.
On June 21, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina went to India on a two-day state visit at the invitation of her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.
On the second day of the visit, Dhaka and New Delhi signed 10 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs), seven of these new and three renewed to further consolidate the ever-growing relationship between the two neighbouring countries.
According to Indian media reports, rail tracks will be set up through Bangladesh to connect the Indian Railways to the northeast with the rest of the country, bypassing a 22 km route through the Siliguri Corridor, commonly known as the ‘Chicken's Neck'.
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