Third Bangladesh minister cancels visit to India amid CAA protests

Bangladesh's Deputy Foreign Minister Shahriar Alam has cancelled his visit to India, becoming the third minister of the country to take such a step since Indian Parliament passed a new citizenship law that promises citizenship to members of 6 non-Muslim communities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who entered India before December 31, 2014.

However, the Bangladesh foreign office denied any link with the new law, rejecting as "misleading" some media, and said cited other reasons for cancellation of the visit.

Alam was invited to speak at the External Affairs Ministry-backed Raisina Dialogue to be held from January 14-16. The annual event is a high-profile platform for discussion on global issues. Last year, the event was attended by foreign ministers, diplomats and experts.

"The Ministry would like to convey that State Minister Md Shahriar Alam was invited as a  speaker in the Raisina Dialogue which coincides with his visit to UAE  to accompany the Prime Minister of Bangladesh. As such State Minister Alam could not avail the participation," Bangladesh's foreign ministry said in a statement. 

"It may be noted that there was no bilateral engagement scheduled during the visit. The inability of his participation has no other connection," the government said.

The ministry said a regret letter, on this regard, has already been communicated with the organisers of the event - Overseas Research Foundation (ORF).

Last month, two Bangladeshi ministers - Foreign Minister A K Abdul Momen and Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan - cancelled their scheduled trips to India, soon after the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) was passed by the Parliament. 

The President gave his assent on December 12 last year and the law came into effect on Friday.

Momen was supposed to arrive in New Delhi on December 11 as part of a three-day visit to India, which includes attending the sixth Indian Ocean Dialogue and Delhi Dialogue XI. He was also supposed to hold talks with Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar.  

Momen had said that he had to participate in the 'Buddijibi Debosh' and 'Bijoy Debosh' events back in Bangladesh. 

Massive protests have erupted across the country against the new law. Some of the protests, most of them in Uttar Pradesh where 19 people have been killed, turned violent, following which the police launched a massive crackdown arresting hundreds of protesters across the state.

Critics say that the new law is against the secular nature of the Indian Constitution and clubbed with the NRC may be misused to strip away some Muslims' citizenship in the country. The BJP, however, has argued that the law has nothing to do with India's Muslims and only helps those who fled religious persecution in the neighbouring countries.