Bangladesh seeks explanation over India's new Parliament map

Sm Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - Bangladesh's Foreign Ministry on Monday sought an explanation from India over the Greater India or Akhand Bharat map that was recently installed in the new Parliament building in New Delhi.

The Bangladesh Embassy in Delhi has been instructed to contact India’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get India's official explanation on this matter, said Bangladesh Junior Minister for Foreign Affairs Md. Shahriar Alam, while talking to reporters in Dhaka.

Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi, however, had said in a media briefing that the mural depicts the spread of the Ashokan Empire and "the idea of responsible and people-oriented governance that he adopted and propagated."

“Anger is being expressed from various quarters over the map. There is no reason to doubt about the installation of the map. However, we have asked our mission in New Delhi to speak to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs to find out what their official interpretation is,” Alam said in Dhaka.

In late May, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new Parliament building where the country's Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi described a mural installed inside the building as the 'Akhand Bharat' map.

The map includes Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.

Alam said India's Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson said that this is a map of the Ashoka Empire, 300 years before the birth of Christ.

There may be cultural similarities, but it has nothing to do with politics, he said.

Several countries including Nepal and Pakistan have already reacted to this.

In Bangladesh too, many have expressed their anger on social media and in the political arena.

Last week, Pakistan expressed "grave" concerns over the idea of Akhand Bharat being increasingly peddled by the ruling Indian dispensation.

At a weekly news briefing in Islamabad, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said the assertion in the map is a manifestation of an expansionist mindset that seeks to subjugate the ideology and culture not only of India's neighbors but also its religious minorities.

*Aamir Latif contributed for the report from Karachi