India’s Ministry of External Affairs has summoned Bangladesh’s High Commissioner to New Delhi, M. Riaz Hamidullah, for a meeting described as a “tea invitation.” The meeting took place on Tuesday afternoon. With this, both countries have summoned each other’s diplomats four times in the past ten days to convey protests and concerns over various issues.

Tensions between Bangladesh and India continued for a fourth consecutive day on Tuesday. Earlier in the day, India’s High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Pranay Verma, was called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Dhaka. During the meeting, Bangladesh expressed serious concern to the Indian government over protests and threats outside the Bangladesh High Commission and the High Commissioner’s residence in New Delhi on December 20, as well as vandalism at the Bangladesh visa centre in Siliguri on December 22 by members of several Hindutva groups.

Later in the afternoon, in response, India’s Ministry of External Affairs summoned Bangladesh’s High Commissioner in New Delhi. According to diplomatic sources, Indian Joint Secretary B. Shyam told the Bangladeshi envoy that Bangladesh had recently reacted to several issues in an unreasonable and irrelevant manner. Rejecting this claim, the High Commissioner said Bangladesh had been presenting its positions based on facts and realities.

Relations between Dhaka and New Delhi have remained strained since the fall of the Awami League government following the mass uprising in July last year. However, in the past 16 months, this is the first time that on the same day one country summoned the other’s envoy in the morning, followed by a reciprocal summons in the afternoon.