Hotel and restaurant owners in the northeastern Indian state of Tripura have announced the relaxation of the ban on Bangladeshi nationals. The All Tripura Hotel and Restaurant Owners Association (ATHROA) made the announcement in a statement amid fears that their businesses would be shut down.
This information was published in a report by Indian media The Hindu on Thursday (December 5).
The report said that hotel and restaurant owners in Tripura had decided not to book hotels and provide food in restaurants for Bangladeshi tourists. However, the ATHROA has announced to withdraw from this decision due to fears of loss in business. ATHROA said that Bangladeshi nationals holding medical visas have been allowed to provide hospitality in hotels and restaurants in Tripura.
Bangladeshi tourists are the main customers of most hotel and restaurant businesses in Tripura and Kolkata. But last Monday (December 2), activists and supporters of various hardline Hindutva organizations in India protested in Tripura over the arrest of Chinmoy Krishna Das on charges of alleged persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh and sedition, as well as the insulting of the Indian flag.
Even the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala, the capital of Tripura, was attacked and vandalized by extremist Hindutva activists and the Bangladeshi national flag was insulted. On that day, the AHROA announced that Bangladeshi citizens would not be allowed to stay in any hotel or restaurant in Tripura.