Received excellent cooperation from the Bangladesh government, says MEA Spokesperson
Over 6,700 Indian students have come back from Bangladesh, which has been rocked by violent anti-quota protests in recent weeks, according to information shared by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The students have returned to India by crossing the land borders and via flights from Bangladesh. 
 
"We have received excellent cooperation from the Bangladeshi Government. Our High Commission has arranged for their safe and secure travel to the border crossing points or to the airport, as the case may be," MEA Official Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said during the weekly media briefing on Thursday (July 25, 2024).
 
Students from Nepal, Bhutan, and Maldives have also arrived in India, the MEA said on Sunday (July 21, 2024).
 
Following the violence, the Indian High Commission in Dhaka and the Assistant High Commissions in Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, and Sylhet set up Helplines. "They are operating 24x7 helplines and all the people who are there, our students and our nationals, they can reach out to them and they have been rendering whatever assistance that has been requested for," Jaiswal pointed out on Thursday. 
 
Bangladesh is limping back to normalcy after several weeks of protests against quotas in government jobs, with news reports putting the number of people dead in violence at nearly 200.
 
The protests began earlier this month after a recent High Court ruling that reinstated a quota in government jobs for family members of freedom fighters of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. The provision had been abolished after widespread protests in 2018. The Supreme Court of Bangladesh has now scaled back the proposed reservation across various categories.
 
Following the unrest, the Indian High Commission issued an advisory to members of the Indian community and the Indian students in Bangladesh asking them to “avoid local travel and minimize their movement outside their local premises”.
 
Asked how India views the developments in Bangladesh, the MEA Spokesperson said, "We are aware of the situation in the country. We have been closely following the developments there. India considers the ongoing situation in the country to be an internal matter of Bangladesh".
 
"Being a close neighbour with whom we share very warm and friendly ties, we are hopeful that the situation in the country will return to normal soon," he added.
 
Meanwhile, Bangladesh has officially objected to the recent comments made by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the ongoing civil unrest in the neighbouring country. The development was confirmed by the MEA Spokesperson, who emphasised that foreign affairs and relations with any foreign country were the sole prerogative of the Union Government. 
 
According to news reports, addressing the Martyrs' Day rally in Kolkata on July 21, 2024, West Bengal CM Banerjee said that she would not hesitate to provide shelter to people coming from the neighbouring country and seeking refuge in West Bengal.
 
"We have received a diplomatic note, a communication from the Bangladeshi side protesting the comments made by the Chief Minister of West Bengal," the MEA Spokesperson said in response to a question at the weekly media briefing. "Under the Seventh Schedule, List 1, Union List, Item 10 of our Constitution, the conduct of foreign affairs and all matters which bring the Union into relation with any foreign country are the sole prerogative of the Union Government," he emphasised.