Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami chief seeks clarification on High Commissioner-designate Dinesh Trivedi’s remarks

New Delhi

India’s High Commissioner-designate to Bangladesh Dinesh Trivedi’s remarks suggesting that India and Bangladesh should “become one” in their efforts were “certainly condemnable”, said Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JeI) Ameer Shafiqur Rahman on Saturday.

In a statement posted on social media, Mr. Rahman stated that India and Bangladesh are both independent countries and that the Tarique Rahman government should seek clarification from Mr. Trivedi. 

“Yesterday, after the arrival of the new Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Mr. Dinesh Trivedi, one of his remarks came to our attention. We believe our government should seek clarification from him regarding what he meant by the phrase ‘India and Bangladesh becoming one’,” said Mr. Rahman while asserting Bangladesh’s independent identity.

Mr Trivedi, who reached Bangladesh through the Benapole-Petrapole land crossing, around 112 km from Kolkata, told reporters that he did not feel like a foreigner after entering the territory of Bangladesh. “We have a population of 140 crore and Bangladesh has 20 crore people. Whatever we do, we have to do it together. We cannot be powerful in isolation,” said Mr. Trivedi. 

Responding to Mr. Trivedi’s remarks, Mr. Rahman said, “The issue needs to be made clear. Just as India is an independent country, Bangladesh is also an independent country. If his statement is not clarified, it will certainly create confusion among the public.”

Mr. Trivedi is the first political appointee to the post of the Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh since the country attained independence in 1971. Apart from the first High Commissioner, Subimal Dutt, who was summoned to serve after retiring in 1962, all subsequent Indian High Commissioners to Dhaka were career diplomats.

The Ministry of External Affairs is yet to make a statement regarding JeI’s remarks .“If he meant something of this nature in the literal sense, then it is certainly condemnable,” said Mr. Rahman, who leads the 77-member strong Opposition bloc in the Jatiya Sangsad, the unicameral legislative body of Bangladesh.

In the February 2026 election, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by Tarique Rahman, won 212 of 300 seats, while the 11-party alliance led by Jamaat-e-Islami won 77 seats. The JeI, with 68 seats, emerged as the principal Opposition party.

Since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government, Mr. Rahman-led JeI has positioned itself as an important political player in Dhaka, and he is often seen engaged with foreign diplomats. He met U.S. Ambassador Brent T. Christensen at the National Parliament building on June 9 and discussed “regional and international issues”. 

He has also met diplomats of several other countries and blocs, like the European Union, over the past several months as he tries to project a more “pragmatic side” of the Jamaat-e-Islami, which has long faced allegations of carrying out crimes against humanity in support of Pakistani forces during Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War.

Last year, Mr. Rahman had created a flutter in Dhaka’s political circles after he claimed that an official of India’s external intelligence wing, R&AW, had met him after he underwent a heart surgery in 2025.