Responding to Indian opposition Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's remark that India is worried about the presence of extremism in Bangladesh, the interim government's foreign adviser Md Touhid Hossain said India needs to change its narrative that everyone except one party is an extremist.

He said this while talking to journalists at the foreign ministry on the evening of 11 September.

According to Indian media outlet NDTV, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi spoke about Bangladesh in answer to a journalist's question at the National Press Club in Washington, saying India was worried about the presence of extremism in Bangladesh. A journalist drew the foreign adviser's attention to this.

In reply, the adviser said: "I think they need to change this narrative. A narrative is being spread in the media that everyone except one party is an extremist. I think India needs to come out of this."

Touhid Hossain said: "Secondly, according to the information we have, it is not the case that extremists are doing something huge here. None of those in the government has any such agenda or any such background. I think they need to move away from this statement. That would be good for relations between the two countries."

India's fish importers' association has sent a letter to the interim government asking for hilsa exports for the coming Durga Puja. The letter, addressed to the foreign adviser, has reached the foreign ministry.

Asked about it, Touhid Hossain said: "I saw the paper 15 minutes ago and said that the relevant ministry of the government will decide. We do not make decisions on fish exports."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.