India has clarified that it does not endorse any statements made by former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina, with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) saying her recent press conference in New Delhi was organized by a private entity and had no backing from the Indian government.
India has distanced itself from remarks made by former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina during a recent press conference in New Delhi, stating that the Indian government neither supported nor was associated with her comments.
Speaking at the Ministry of External Affairs' weekly media briefing on Friday, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the Indian government does not endorse any statements made by Hasina, including her remarks about Bangladesh's current government during the Aug. 5 press conference.
Jaiswal also clarified that the press conference had been organized by a private organization and was not an initiative of the Government of India.
Earlier, the Bangladesh government strongly protested India's decision to allow Hasina, who it described as a fugitive former prime minister convicted and sentenced to death, to address the media in New Delhi.
In an official statement, Bangladesh said it was "deeply outraged" that Hasina had been allowed to speak live to the media from Indian soil, alleging that she and her associates spread "poisonous hatred" against Bangladesh and its people.
The statement further said that holding the event on the second anniversary of the July Revolution amounted to an affront to Bangladesh's sovereignty and a grave insult to those who lost their lives during the movement.
It also accused Hasina and her associates of attempting to rewrite history by denying the findings of the United Nations regarding the killings of civilians, including children, during the July-August 2024 unrest, adding that such attempts had been rejected by the people of Bangladesh.
The remarks by the Indian spokesperson were made during the MEA's regular weekly briefing and were broadcast on the ministry's official YouTube channel.
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