The issue has got politicised here with the opposition joining the protests by the NGOs and accusing the government of hatching what it calls 'a foreign conspiracy'.

Main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain Sunday sought to link the Tipaimukh controversy with India's Farakka Barrage over Ganga river that was settled with a treaty in 1997.

Harking back to his version of history, Hossain told media that the Ganga project was approved by the country's founding father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in lieu of the Indian support to the country's freedom movement.

Hossain alleged that India wanted Bangladesh to become a 'crippled and ineffective state', bdnews24.com web site quoted him as saying.

Hossain announced that opposition leader and former prime minister Khaleda Zia will initiate the movement to 'prevent' India from building the Tipaimukh dam.