The BNP was disappointed after India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) General Secretary Ram Madhav backed out from a possible meeting in Bangkok in August this year, reports Indian Express.
“We tried to fix up a meeting with BJP’s general secretary Ram Madhav in Bangkok in August this year, but the Indian side chickened out,” BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told the Indian media outlet.
“We tried to meet Indian leaders outside the country. We sought appointment from the Indian High Commissioner, sought and met three times, it’s not the other way around,” reads the report ran on Saturday (Dec 29).
Indian diplomats are not keen to meet and engage with the BNP leaders since they don’t want to upset the incumbent government led by Hasina, claims the BNP leader.
“We seek friendship with India. And contrary to the perception in India, we don’t believe in communalism, fundamentalism,” he says emphatically. “That’s a totally a false perception that we are anti-India, this is part of Awami League’s concerted propaganda.”
Fakhrul told during the interview that his party has been reaching out to India, referring to Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s 2012 Delhi visit.
“We thought with BJP in power in 2014, things will improve. She had a very good meeting with Modi, but nothing happened after that. There was no follow up”.
Describing the polls atmosphere as ‘extremely dangerous’, the BNP secretary general said, “There is no campaign, it’s a reign of terror, that too State terror.”