“We have held 3-4 meetings on Bangladesh, and this was the last meeting where the Foreign Secretary has given us a briefing, and in this briefing, all the questions that the Members had to ask were discussed. The Foreign Secretary has answered all of them,” Tharoor told ANI.
He added that the Committee will now prepare its report, which will be placed before Parliament. “After this, it is our job to write a report, adopt it and present it to the Parliament. Before doing that, I cannot tell what we will decide, what advice we will give…” he said.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee met on August 4 to review the future of India-Bangladesh relations.
The meeting saw officials from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) presenting evidence on the future of India-Bangladesh relations. The agenda also included a review of the draft report on action taken by the government on recommendations made in an earlier report concerning the MEA’s demands for grants for 2024-25.
According to Tharoor, the August 4 meeting marked the final round of deliberations on the issue. He reiterated that the Foreign Secretary had briefed the panel and addressed all queries raised by the members. The committee will now prepare, adopt, and present a report to Parliament. The panel had earlier met on June 27, during which it heard the views of experts on the topic ‘Future of India-Bangladesh Relationship’. Following the meeting, Tharoor stated that the Committee benefited from the insights of “four first-class experts.” He also noted that the number of Bangladeshis entering India had declined in recent times.”You will see our report in the next few weeks… We didn’t discuss (the issue of Bangladeshis living in India). But we were told about a figure that the number of Bangladeshis coming to our country has lessened now,” he said.
India-Bangladesh ties have seen some strain in the recent past.
Meanwhile, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor also commented on the 25 per cent tariffs imposed on India by US President Donald Trump, stating that the matter is expected to be discussed on August 11. “I think the tariffs will be discussed on 11th August,” he said.
Trump, in a recent post on his Truth Social platform, stated that a 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods would be implemented from August 1. He also warned of additional penalties over India’s oil trade with Russia.
“Remember, while India is our friend, we have, over the years, done relatively little business with them because their Tariffs are far too high, among the highest in the World, and they have the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary Trade Barriers of any Country. Also, they have always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia, and are Russia’s largest buyer of ENERGY, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to stop killing in Ukraine – STOP THE KILLING IN UKRAINE – ALL THINGS NOT GOOD! INDIA WILL THEREFORE BE PAYING A TARIFF OF 25%, PLUS A PENALTY FOR THE ABOVE, STARTING ON AUGUST 1st. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER. MAGA!”, Trump posted.
