Bangladesh on Monday lodged a protest against remarks made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah regarding Bangladeshi nationals during his visit to Jharkhand last week.

In a statement, Bangladesh's Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the remarks “highly deplorable”.

Speaking at a rally in poll-bound Jharkhand on September 20, Shah had repeated the claims that Bangladeshi nationals were infiltrating into the state. He had vowed that if the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in Jharkhand, it would free the state of “Rohingya and Bangladeshi infiltrators” and hang them “upside down”, reported The Hindu.

On Monday, the Bangladeshi ministry handed over a protest note to the deputy high commissioner of India in Dhaka.

“The ministry conveyed its serious reservation, deep sense of hurt and extreme displeasure and called upon the Government of India to advise the political leaders to refrain from making such objectionable and unacceptable remarks,” said the ministry.

It added that such remarks, “coming from responsible positions against the nationals of a neighbouring country, undermine the spirit of mutual respect and understanding between two friendly countries”.

On September 20, Shah alleged during a speech in Jharkhand’s Sahibganj that the demography was changing in certain parts of the state due to the alleged infiltration of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis.

“In Pakur district, slogans are being raised asking Hindus and Adivasis to leave Jharkhand,” Shah said. “Tell me, does this land belong to Adivasis or Rohingya, Bangladeshi infiltrators?”

In the run-up to the Assembly elections, several Bharatiya Janata Party leaders have alleged that “Bangladeshi infiltrators” were marrying Adivasi women to grab their land and property, and to use them as proxies to gain power in the region.

A Scroll investigation has found such claims to be false.

Asha Lakra, a BJP politician and member of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, had also claimed that ten Adivasi women elected representatives in nine panchayats in Sahibganj were married to “Bangladeshi infiltrators, Rohingya Muslims”.

Scroll has found that four of the 10 cases Lakra cited were false. Three of the women had Adivasi husbands. The fourth, Kapra Tudu, had married outside the Adivasi community, but her husband, Nitin Saha, is Hindu, not Muslim.

In six cases, where Adivasi women panchayat leaders were indeed married to Muslims, all of them told Scroll they had married out of choice. “The Indian constitution gives us the freedom to marry whom we please,” one said.

Also read: