Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
gestures to the crowd as he addresses a rally in Mathura on May 25,
2015. Photo: AFP
It will be a 36-hour foreign visit with a difference. No travel outside the capital and no glitzy diaspora function.
Narendra Modi's visit to Dhaka will be power-packed nonetheless.
Bangladesh is all set to receive the Indian prime minister tomorrow.
With his focus on neighbourhood policy, Modi will travel to the
country that India aided in its liberation war. After having visited 19
countries in the last one year, Modi's itinerary so far has included
Bhutan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka in the immediate neighbourhood.
But Bangladesh had to wait for Modi's arrival, as the Land Boundary Agreement was stuck in parliament.
With the historic unanimous passage of constitutional amendment bill
in parliament, India and Bangladesh can now officially exchange land
enclaves in each other's territory.
Therefore, Modi has the perfect scenario set up to visit Bangladesh.
Arriving in Dhaka on the morning of June 6, Modi will first pay
homage to freedom fighters and martyred soldiers of the 1971 Liberation
War at the Jatiya Smriti Soudho or the National Martyrs’ Monument.
A visit to Bangabandhu Bhawan at Dhanmondi to pay respect to the
country's founding father and first president Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur
Rehman will be next on the schedule.
He will visit the house where Bangabandhu was assassinated in a military coup on August 15, 1975.
Narendra Modi will receive the Friendship Award on behalf of India’s
former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee from Bangladeshi President
Abdul Hamid.
The Friends of Bangladesh Liberation war award initiated by the
ruling Awami League government has been conferred upon 226 Indians so
far including President Pranab Mukherjee during his 2013 Dhaka visit.
In July 2011, Congress President Sonia Gandhi had received the
highest award - Bangladesh Freedom Honour conferred upon mother-in-law
and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for her unequivocal support to
Bangladesh's liberation war.
He will hold official talks with his counterpart Sheikh Hasina
regarding bilateral and regional issues with the focus on trade and
cooperation on counter-terrorism.
Modi will meet Bangladeshi President Abdul Hamid. Leader of the
Opposition in Parliament Roshan Ershad will call on Modi at the Pan
Pacific Sonargaon hotel where the Prime Minister will stay.
Sources indicate BNP Chief Khaleda Zia could call on Modi at the Hotel itself, though there is no confirmation yet.
Bangladeshi government is slightly wary of a final go ahead to the
meeting as Zia had refused to meet President Pranab Mukherjee in his
2013 visit, despite it being slotted in the official program of the
visiting Indian guest.
Khaleda Zia did meet Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj when she was in Dhaka in June last year.
Sheikh Hasina is likely to host a banquet dinner for Narendra Modi at the hotel.
On June 7, Modi will visit the Dhakeshwari temple in Dhaka city, which rarely finds itself a high profile VIP visitor.
Prime Minister Modi will inaugurate the Indian High Commission's
Chancery in the diplomatic enclave to strengthen diplomatic ties.
He will address civil society members, intellectuals, political
leaders and dignitaries at the Bangabandhu International Conference
Centre before flying back home.
Modi will also lay out the Indo-Bangla friendship roadmap in front of students and youth at Dhaka University during his visit.
Modi heads to Bangladesh on his first official visit on a high
following the green signal to Land Boundary agreement by Indian
lawmakers after more than 4 decades that witnessed opposition from
parties like TMC, AGP, BJP and Assam state itself.
According to sources, Narendra Modi will also extend the Visa on
Arrival and E Visa facility to Bangladeshi citizens including
businessmen and tourists, traveling to India by air.
The two countries will also ink agreements towards maritime economy,
shipping and climate change agreements as well as on joint conservation
of the Sundarbans.
Meanwhile Home Minister Rajnath Singh in a press conference in
Kolkata on the occasion of the government's first anniversary on Tuesday
had claimed that the long standing Teesta water sharing issue with
Dhaka will be resolved soon.
Keeping in mind the significance of this relationship and the fact
that the last Indian Prime Ministerial visit in 2011 was mired in
controversy when Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee pulled out of
Manmohan Singh's official entourage at the eleventh hour - diplomatic
sources claim Narendra Modi's Dhaka visit will be sui generis after all.
