It has been tentatively decided that to join the centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s birthday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Dhaka on Mar 17. He is supposed to return on Mar 18 and will possibly have a bilateral meet with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Modi came to Bangladesh in June 2015 and in that account, he is coming after five years. In that trip, Modi signed some historic deals with Bangladesh and his speech at the Dhaka University was lauded.
In the past five years, there have been some hiccups in the otherwise smooth Indo Bangla relations with the controversial Indian National Register of Citizens (NRC).
But a spokesperson of the Indian foreign ministry assures that PM Modi’s visit will dispel many of the misunderstandings.
He will also clarify that India will never do anything which will adversely impact relations with Bangladesh, said the spokesperson.
To prepare for the groundwork, India’s new Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla will fly to Dhaka 10-12 days before the visit.
Sringla was Indian high commissioner to Bangladesh a few years ago and knows the country well. In addition, Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is also making all-out efforts to make the trip a success.
Jaishankar met the Bangladesh high commissioner to Delhi Mobhamamd Imran on Feb 21 and the main topic of discussion was the upcoming visit.
Indian foreign minister said: “Indians have always regarded Sheikh Mujib with respect and he was a global leader and India also looks at Bangladesh with respect.”