The president of the country’s ruling party has articulated an opinion that is ill-advised even at the mildest estimation. Both India and Bangladesh are acutely aware that illegal migrants ~ specifically the post-March 1971 generation ~ have posed a festering sore in bilateral relations since the late 1970s, when the “quiet influx” ~ this newspaper’s coinage ~ began.

Whether in Europe or in the subcontinent, a refugee influx becomes a humanitarian issue over time. Which lends little or no scope for subjective reflection of a kind that has been indulged in by Mr Amit Shah, president of the Bharatiya Janata Party. In a remarkably tasteless reference to the influx, he has described the illegal migrants as “termites” that are “eating into national resources”.

Not to put too fine a point on it, he has insulted the Bangladeshis generally through an offensive that has dual implications ~ for the migrant and the community no less. Mr Shah has couched his remark with a signal of intent to send them back, if the BJP is returned to power in 2019. His off-the-cuff ranting at the migrants cannot but bolster the potentially violent anti-India and anti- Hasina lobby across the fence, one that has the tacit support of Begum Khaleda of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

This segment, notably the Jamaate- Islami, has been smarting over India’s (aka Bengal’s) refusal to share the waters of the Teesta. By hitting the migrant below the belt, the president of the ruling party has unwittingly played into the hands of the forces that are ranged against India.

Three months ahead of the elections, these forces are said to be conspiring to terminate the relatively secular Hasina dispensation, which assumed power in 2013 through an uncontested election. Almost certainly, his remark will dent the prospects of Begum Hasina and the Awami League this December. In diplomatic terms, this is a case of shooting oneself in the foot.

Sad to reflect, Mr Shah has ignited the controversy when India’s relations with Bangladesh are distinctly on the upswing, most particularly after the recent inauguration of projects related to railway connectivity and infrastructure. On the eve of the elections, it shall not be easy for Prime Minister Hasina to portray a relationship of equals before the domestic constituency.

Altogether it is a profoundly emotive issue, and there was no call quite yet for Mr Shah to rock the electoral applecart in one country while seeking arguably to boost his party’s prospects at home. Even the illegal migrant from North Africa and the Arab region hasn’t incurred so humiliating an insult in Europe.

While it may be too much to expect civility in the current political discourse, surely good sense ought to have prevailed. The Prime Minister would do well to soothe ruffled feathers. It is senseless to rejoice at the displacement of an inimical dispensation on the southern frontier and then proceed to jeopardise the chances of a friendly one in the East.