Hotels, restaurants in India’s Tripura halt services for Bangladeshi tourists

Earlier, two hospitals had announced a temporary ban on providing medical services to Bangladeshi patients

Hotels and restaurants in the northeastern Indian state of Tripura have imposed a temporary ban on service for Bangladeshi tourists.

On Monday, the All Tripura Hotel & Restaurant Owners’ Association, or ATHROA, issued a statement emphasising that hotels in Tripura will not provide rooms for Bangladeshi tourists, Indian media report.

In addition, restaurants will not serve them meals, citing strained diplomatic ties between India and Bangladesh, according to Indian broadcaster NDTV.

ATHROA General Secretary Saikat Bandyopadhyay told the Times of India: “We are a secular country and have respect for all religions. Our national flag has been desecrated and minorities are facing oppression by a section of fundamentalists in Bangladesh. Earlier too such incidents used to take place but now it has crossed the limit.”

“We condemn the treatment meted out to minorities in Bangladesh,” he added.

The decision comes against a backdrop of rising protests in Agartala, the state capital, over recent incidents targeting Hindus in Bangladesh.

On Monday afternoon, more than 50 protesters attacked the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in India’s Agartala.

Later, they lowered the national flag of Bangladesh there, according to Indian media and BBC Bangla.

The protesters denounced the arrest of Chinmoy Krishna Das, a spokesperson of the Sammilita Sanatan Jagaran Jote, and alleged there had been many attacks on Bangladesh's Hindu minority.

Police and law-enforcing personnel dispersed the crowd afterwards.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s interim government has dubbed the attack as ‘pre-planned’, accusing the law-enforcing agencies of ‘inaction’ over the incident.

Expressing ‘deep resentment’ over the incident in a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on the Indian government to ensure the safety and security of all diplomatic missions and staff members on Monday.

The statement read: “Bangladesh government deeply resents the violent demonstration and attack by a large group of protesters of the Hindu Sangharsh Samity on the premises of the Assistant High Commission of Bangladesh in Agartala.”

Earlier, Tripura’s ILS Hospital located in Agartala had announced that it would not give medical services to patients travelling from Bangladesh.

ILS Hospital COO Gautam Hazarika told the Times of India: “We extend full support to the demand of suspending treatment for Bangladeshi nationals at our health facility. Our help desks at Akhaura check post and ILS Hospital have been closed down from today onwards.”

In addition to ILS Hospital, JN Ray Hospital also announced that it would temporarily close down services for Bangladeshi patients on Friday.