'His remark on India's Northeast misinterpreted': Aide defends Muhammad Yunus

NEW DELHI: A senior aide of Muhammad Yunus, the head of Bangladesh's interim government, said on Wednesday the Nobel laureate's recent comment on India's Northeast was "misinterpreted."
"He (Yunus) made the statement with honest intentions. If people interpret it differently, we cannot prevent it," Khalilur Rahman, the High Representative to Bangladesh's chief adviser Yunus for the Rohingya issue and other priorities, told media persons, according to Bangladesh's Daily Star newspaper.
Yunus made the remark during his state visit to Beijing last week.
He stated, "The seven states of India, the (north)eastern part of India, are called the seven sisters. They are a landlocked region of India. They have no way to reach out to the ocean. For Bangladesh, as the only guardian of the ocean in the region, this could be a huge opportunity and an extension of the Chinese economy."
The statement surfaced on social media on Monday, drawing sharp reactions from political leaders across party lines in India, who dubbed these as "shameful" and "provocative".
'Reasonable grounds to be hopeful for Modi-Yunus meet'
Meanwhile, on a possible meeting between the two leaders on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) Summit in Bangkok, Rahman noted there were "reasonable grounds" to be hopeful.
"There is a high possibility of the meeting," he said.
Bangladesh has approached India for the meeting. The BIMSTEC Summit will be held on Friday.
Since the caretaker administration headed by Yunus stepped in following the ouster of the erstwhile Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024, the ties between the two countries have seen a slump amid India's concerns over the violence against religious minorities, including Hindus, the largest minority group in India's eastern neighbour.