'Burn sarees first': B'desh PM slams oppn's 'boycott India' call

Opposition leaders demanding a boycott of Indian products must declare how many Indian sarees their wives have and why they are not setting these on fire, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said.

Addressing a meeting of the ruling Awami League, of which she is the president, Ms Hasina tore into the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leaders calling for a boycott of Indian products. "My question is, how many Indian sarees do their wives have? And why are they not taking the sarees from their wives and setting them on fire? Please ask BNP leaders," she said.

The Bangladesh Prime Minister, who secured the fourth consecutive term in office in the elections held earlier this year, said that when the BNP was in power, ministers and their wives would buy sarees on India trips and sell them in Bangladesh.