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People left off NRC in Assam are not Bangladeshi: Dr Momen


Bangladeshpost
Published : 31 Aug 2019 09:05 PM | Updated : 06 Sep 2020 08:01 AM

Dr AK Abdul Momen, Minister for Foreign Affairs in Bangladesh, on Saturday denied the people who were left off the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in India’s Assam, as Bangladeshis. The Bangladeshi foreign minister said this in an interview with an Indian news channel, Times Now. Dr Momen came up with his reaction after about 19.7 lakh people were excluded from the NRC, which was published today.

Replying to a query of the Indian channel, Dr AK Abdul Momen said, Indian External Affairs Minister (Foreign Minister) Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar had told him that this is purely an internal issue of India and that is why Bangladesh does not need to be worried about that. “Under no circumstances, Bangladesh would be affected,” the Bangladeshi Foreign Minister quoted Indian External Affairs Minister Jaishankar.

Asked whether the people left out are from Bangladesh, Momen replied in the negative. He said, “I don’t think so. Because if there is any Bangladeshi they might have gone before 1947 or before 1971. So, they have been living there for years. We don’t think they are Bangladeshi.”
“There is no reason why a Bangladeshi should move to India. 

Bangladesh is doing much better and therefore it does not look like there is any interest in any Bangladeshi to go to India. In Bangladesh, even the per capita income is comparatively higher than the cost of living. There is no possibility of them moving to India,” the minister also said. “I don’t know how they have counted the numbers,” he added.