Dhaka, Feb 26 (Reporter) Bangladesh's Interim Government on Wednesday named student activist Mahfuz Alam, who in the past has posted anti-India statements on social media, as Information and Broadcasting Advisor. Mahfuz Alam, who played a critical role in the movement that led to the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August last year, is already holding the post of Special Assistant to Chief Advisor Mohammed Younus. Meanwhile, Chief Advisor Younus has taken charge of the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology, which were previously being handled by Nahid Islam, another student activist, who resigned on Tuesday as Information Advisor. Nahid Islam handed over his resignation letter to Mohammed Younus after an informal meeting of the Advisory Council held on February 25, following which the country’s Cabinet Division issued a circular confirming the new appointment today, according to Business Standard BD. Nahid Islam came to the spotlight during the July-August uprising in 2024 which led to the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government. Seen as a key coordinator of the movement, Islam is set to join the upcoming party of Students Against Discrimination and the Jatiya Nagorik Committee scheduled to be launched on February 28, where he is expected to be the convener of the new party. On December 20, India had registered a strong protest with Bangladesh over a social media post by student leader Mahfuz Alam, special aide to Mohammad Yunus, where he had shared a controversial map of Bangladesh that included India's eastern and northeastern areas such as West Bengal, Assam, and Tripura. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said in his weekly briefing: “We have registered our strong protest on this issue with the Bangladesh side. “We understand that the post being referred to has reportedly been taken down. We would like to remind all concerned to be mindful of their public comments. “While India has repeatedly signalled interest in fostering relations with the people and the interim government of Bangladesh, such comments underline the need for responsibility in public articulation,” he stressed. In his Facebook post, Mahfuz Alam alleged that India practises a "contain" and "ghettoize" policy towards Bangladesh. He claimed that the 1975 coup which saw Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and almost his entire family killed, and the 2024 protests, both came to save Bangladesh from Indian "reliance" and "hegemony". He concluded that to become truly "independent", Bangladesh must "come out of its cage" and expand geographically. He later deleted the post following backlash. Alam is the same person that Yunus, in his address at a Clinton Global Initiative event in New York in September 2024, had introduced as the "mastermind" of the protests which led to the August 5 changeover in Bangladesh...////...