Hours after coming down hard on India for what he claimed to ‘its efforts to keep an unelected administration’ on Sunday, senior BNP leader Ruhil Kabir Rizvi was all praises for the neighbouring country.
In a span of hours, the BNP senior joint secretary general made a U-turn on his stance.
During a regular press briefing at the party headquarters in the morning, Rizvi described Indian High Commission officials as ‘colonial rulers who were on to keep their loyalists in rule.’
His remarks came in reference to a media report, which said British lawyer Lord Alex Carlile, who has been appointed by the BNP to advise jailed party chief’s counsels, has been denied Indian visa on inputs by the Indian mission in Dhaka.
In a second media call later in the day, Rizvi, however, said that the BNP believes in friendly relations with the neighbours. “India is the largest democracy in the world and the BNP advocates for a multi-party democracy,” he said.
The people of Bangladesh expects India to support them in restoring democracy just like the way it stood by them in 1971 during the struggle for freedom, Rizvi told the press.
Soon after Rizvi lambasted Dhaka-based Indian diplomats, several members of the BNP’s policymaking National Standing Committee disowned his statement.
“The BNP is not linked with these types of remarks on India. The party’s policymaking forum is not at all aware of it. It’s totally Rizvi’s personal opinion,” said a leader, who was part of the BNP delegation which visited in India in June.
Several other leaders said that Rizvi’s statement over the issue on Lord Carlile was “totally uncalled for” at a time, when the party has decided to seek India’s cooperation.
A BNP senior leader, asking not to be named, confirmed Bangla Tribune that Rizvi was told by the party leadership to open damage control initiatives.
Standing Committee Member Amir Khoshru Mahmud Chowdhury, who also sits on the party foreign relations wing, said he was not aware of the issue.
“I do not know anything on the matter, so I cannot comment,” he told Bangla Tribune.
Speaking to Bangla Tribune, Rizvi, however, defended his statements.
“Apparently, there is no relation between India and Lord Carlile and that’s the case between BNP and India.
“The BNP is fighting the Bangladesh government over Khaleda Zia. Now it’s natural to assume whether the Indian High Commission has anything to do with visa denied to Lord Carlile,” said the BNP leader.
Asked whether his statement will create a dent in relations, he replied: “I did not say anything on India. My remarks were based on the behavior of officials at the high commission in Bangladesh.”
According to media reports, Lord Carlile was scheduled to hold a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in New Delhi on Jul 13 over Khaleda Zia.
Khaleda’s lawyer, however, said they have knowledge on the matter. Her chief counsel Khandaker Mahbub Hossain and another counsel Mahbub Uddin Khokon told Bangla Tribune that they knew about the issue from media reports.