Mamata Banerjee on Sunday expressed her sadness over the loss of lives in Bangladesh and offered shelter to people from the strife-torn country, comments which apparently didn’t go down well with the Sheikh Hasina administration.

The Bengal chief minister — during her address at the Martyrs’ Day rally in Calcutta — suddenly drifted to the recent developments in the neighbouring country, which has been racked by violent protests against quotas in government jobs.

“I will not comment on Bangladesh. It is a different country.... Whatever there is to say, the Indian government will say,” Mamata began her comment with a cautionary note, which was broadly in convergence with the Centre’s stand that the developments beyond the border were the country’s “internal affair”.

“But if helpless people knock on the door of Bengal, we will offer shelter to them. There is a UN (United Nations) resolution that neighbouring areas can help if someone is in trouble,” she went on, before adding that Bengal had given shelter to people from Assam during an ethnic conflict in the northeastern state.

Reacting to Mamata’s statement, a source in Delhi said: “These matters are handled by the Union government. A state government has no locus standi on the issue and as such, its comments are totally misplaced.”

Multiple sources in Dhaka told this correspondent that the Bengal chief minister could have avoided making such a comment.

“She is loved so much in our country.... There are no reports of people fleeing Bangladesh. She could have avoided making this comment,” said a source in the ruling Awami League establishment.

Although the Bengal chief minister did not utter a word on the ongoing movement in Bangladesh for reform in the quota system for government jobs and urged people not to get instigated, she referred to “deaths of students”, an issue that has brought the Hasina government under tremendous pressure both in her country and beyond.

“I have an appeal to all of you.... We should steer clear of provocation on the Bangladesh issue and we should not get incited. We have compassion and sympathy for anyone whose blood is shed. We are tracking the developments. The lives of students, fresh lives, are getting lost,” Mamata said.

While Hasina and senior Awami League leaders have also mourned the deaths during the protests, there is little doubt that Mamata’s comments will add to the embarrassment for the Prime Minister at a time when Opposition parties are holding Hasina responsible for the violence.

A source in the Trinamool Congress said the chief minister had probably tried to highlight the problems faced by Indians in returning to the country after phone lines and Internet connection went down and a curfew was imposed in Bangladesh.

In support of his logic, he referred to Mamata’s post in her X handle.

“Hundreds of students and others are returning to West Bengal/ India, from the trouble-torn Bangladesh. I have asked our State administration to render all help and assistance to the returnees...,” she wrote.

The comment of Mamata drew a sharp response from the BJP which broached the party’s pet theme of infiltration from the neighbouring country.

“This is part of I.N.D.I Alliance’s evil plan to settle illegal Bangladeshis from Bengal to Jharkhand, so that they can win elections,” Amit Malviya, BJP IT cell chief and Bengal co-minder, wrote on X.

“Who gave Mamata Banerjee the authority to welcome anyone in India? Immigration and citizenship are exclusively in the Center’s domain. The States have no locus standi,” he wrote.

Additional reporting by Delhi bureau