The Cabinet Committee on Security met at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official residence this evening amid the turmoil in neighbouring Bangladesh – where its Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country amid massive protests over job quotas. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman were present in the meeting.
Separately, PM Modi was also briefed on the situation in Bangladesh by S Jaishankar. Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, has also spoken to Jaishankar.
Hasina, who first came to power in 2009, had sought to quell nationwide protests against her government since early July but she fled the country after brutal unrest on Sunday in which nearly 100 people were killed.
Bangladesh’s army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman said in a broadcast to the nation on state television that Ms Hasina, 76, had resigned and the military would form a caretaker government.
Sheikh Hasina’s plane – a Bangladesh Air Force C-130 military transport – landed at an airbase near Delhi on Monday evening. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval called on the former prime minister.