CAA is unnecessary: Bangladesh PM

BangladeshPrime Minister Sheikh Hasina termed the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) asunnecessary. During an interview, Hasina remarked, "We don't understand why(the Indian government) did it. It was not necessary."

She furtherstressed that the minority communities did not leave her country because ofpersecution and also said that there was no reverse migration from India either.

However, she maintained that CAA is an internal affair of India. "Bangladesh has always maintained that the CAA and NRC are internal matters of India. The government of India, on their part, has also repeatedly maintained that the NRC is an internal exercise of India, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has in-person assured me of the same during my visit to New Delhi in October 2019."

It may be mentioned here that following the passing of CAA 2019, Bangladesh cancelled several high-level meetings with India that included the visits of Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan among others. Last week, Dhaka cancelled its State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam's visit to New Delhi, who was to address the Raisina Dialogue.