The foreign minister's Tuesday's tough-talking on Delhi gave rise to a wide spectrum of negative reactions yesterday among the majority of policymakers and senior leaders of the ruling BNP, who termed it 'most unwise and undiplomatic' act.

They said the tactless blasting might create further misunderstanding and widen the gap between the two governments, leading to degeneration of bilateral relations.

Sources said Foreign Minister Morshed Khan's speech at the inaugural session of an India-

Bangladesh Dialogue of Young Journalists was a much-talked-about subject among the BNP leaders throughout yesterday and the most of them disapproved of such direct attack on India.

Several policymakers speculated that the foreign minister might have been influenced by certain frustrated quarters of the BNP in firing such a broadside at Delhi. They said it would have been wiser of the FM to consult first the policymakers on whether the government wanted to take such a stance against India. However, aides to the foreign minister said he made the statement on receiving the green light from the government high command, otherwise he would not dare to make such comments.

A section of rightwing BNP leaders, on the other hand, came out with strong support for Morshed's speech saying India deserves such a strong comment, as Delhi is maintaining excessively close relations with the main opposition Awami League bypassing the democratically elected government of Bangladesh.

Members of this rightwing section alleged neither the previous BJP-led regime nor the present Congress-led government is willing to work with BNP-led government.

Many young BNP leaders were seen openly criticising Morshed for his apparent threats to India and said there has been no progress in the bilateral relations in the last three years due to such crude acts.

Talking to The Daily Star, an influential BNP leader said though the Indian government has showed apparent tilt towards the AL, it would be wise of Bangladesh to try to strike an understanding with the Congress government.

He said Delhi might take the foreign minister's speech seriously, which might affect the BNP government in the current volatile political context.

The leader also disapproved of criticising India at such a low-profile meeting of young journalists. "If we truly want to censure India, we must do it in an appropriate forum."

"We should maintain good relations with India as an sovereign country and also from understanding of the reality that it is a big neighbour," he said. "Mutual coperation can work wonders for both."

Another senior BNP leader said it was not wise to react against India on the basis of a few Indian newspaper reports against Bangladesh.

Pointing to a couple of newspapers in Bangladesh engaged in anti-India campaign, he asked,

"Does India react to the newspaper reports in Bangladesh."

Instructed by the government high command, Morshed talked to the Indian prime minister and the external affairs minister by phone a few days ago to resolve the bilateral issues and upgrade relations, highly placed sources said. But Tuesday's outburst might nullify that move, they feared.