All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday said that if the Indian government is serious about sending back "illegal Bangladeshis", it should start by deporting former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who he said has been staying in India since her removal from power in August 2024.
He made these remarks when asked about the alleged targeting of Bangla-speaking people across India. "Why are we keeping that deposed leader [Hasina] in the country? Send her back. She is also a Bangladeshi, isn't she?" said Owaisi during an event, reports The Indian Express.
The AIMIM chief also said India should "acknowledge the popular uprising" that occurred in Bangladesh on 5 August 2024, and focus on building positive relations with the country's present government.
"We have one Bangladeshi living in our country and creating problems by giving statements and speeches, and then we have these poor Bengali-speaking Indians from Malda and Murshidabad who were sent from Pune to Kolkata in an aircraft and then in no man's land," he said, referring to recent incidents where Bangla-speaking residents were deported without verification.
Responding to a question about the opposition's stance on the alleged targeting of Bangla-speaking people across India, Asaduddin Owaisi said speaking Bangla is being equated with being Bangladeshi. He said this attitude reveals the xenophobia operating in the country.
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