Bangladesh's BNP, netizens blame India for ongoing floods, New Delhi rejects claims

In a statement, BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi alleged India has deliberately opened the gates of Dumbur Dam on the Gomti River in Tripura, causing the flood in Bangladesh’s eastern districts, as it is indifferent to the people of Bangladesh and their safety, reported Dhaka Tribune.

Anti-India sentiment is on the rise in Bangladesh in recent times following the toppling of Hasina's regime.

Amid worsening flood situation due to incessant rainfall, Bangladesh reported six deaths in Comilla in the past three days.

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Nearly 1.8 million people have been affected by severe flood situations in the country which recently witnessed major political unrest.

Several netizens have even blamed India for the flood situation in Bangladesh.

One Afraan Raj posted on X: "India has created an artificial flood in Bangladesh by releasing water from its dams and you still wonder why people hate India so much??"

Another Syed Abid Hossain wrote on the platform: "India opened the Doombur dam in Tripura without notifying Bangladesh violating the UN Watercourses Convention. This unexpected release has caused the Muhuri River to flood surpassing a 40-year record and endangering hundreds of villages in Feni, Noakhali, Cumilla and Chittagong."

X user Amir Hamza posted on X: "India has created an artificial flood in Bangladesh by releasing water from its dams."

 Indian government rejects Bangladesh's claims

The Indian government, however, rejected the claims and called them factually incorrect.

" We have seen concerns being expressed in Bangladesh that the current situation of flood in districts on the eastern borders of Bangladesh has been caused by opening of the Dumbur dam upstream of the Gumti River in Tripura. This is factually not correct," read the statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs.

"We would like to point out that the catchment areas of Gumti river that flows through India and Bangladesh have witnessed heaviest rains of this year over the last few days," the statement said.

"The flood in Bangladesh is primarily due to waters from these large catchments downstream of the dam," MEA said.

India said the Dumbur dam is located quite far from the border - over 120 Km upstream of Bangladesh.

"It is a low height (about 30m) dam that generates power that feeds into a grid and from which Bangladesh also draws 40MW power from Tripura," MEA said.

MEA said: "As two countries sharing 54 common cross-border rivers, river water cooperation is an important part of our bilateral engagement. We remain committed to resolving issues and mutual concerns in water resources and river water management through bilateral consultations and technical discussions."