DHAKA — Bangladesh's foreign ministry summoned India's high commissioner in Dhaka on Monday to protest against a march on its deputy high commission in Kolkata. Dhaka demanded firm guarantees for the safety of its diplomats and premises in India. The move came two days after hundreds of supporters of a Hindu organisation marched towards the mission on Saturday.

According to the Press Trust of India, the demonstrators were halted by Kolkata Police before reaching the deputy high commission in the city's Park Circus area. A spokesperson for Bangladesh's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the envoy was told that the protest breached India's obligations under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Under that convention, host states must protect foreign missions from intrusion and disturbance.

The summons followed a pattern established since Sheikh Hasina's government fell in August 2024. In December 2024, protesters breached Bangladesh's assistant high commission in Agartala, prompting Dhaka to summon the Indian envoy. Further demonstrations outside Bangladeshi missions in India in late 2025, over reported attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh, triggered similar diplomatic protests.

India's Ministry of External Affairs said Indian authorities had taken prompt measures to keep the Kolkata mission secure. The ministry added that New Delhi expected Dhaka to protect religious minorities in Bangladesh. Its spokesperson reiterated that India took its obligations towards diplomatic premises seriously and that no damage had been reported.

The row risks further delaying efforts to normalise visa services and trade links between the two neighbours. Those links have remained curtailed through much of the past two years. Analysts at the Dhaka-based Centre for Policy Dialogue have said repeated mission protests make it harder for either government to sell rapprochement to domestic audiences.