Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla is coming to Dhaka Monday for a short visit to finalise Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming visit. Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said Modi had agreed to join the inauguration of the ‘Mujib Year’ on March 17, the beginning of the birth centenary celebration of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Shringla, who served Bangladesh as the High Commissioner recently, will also speak at a seminar styled ‘Bangladesh and India: A Promising Future’ on Monday jointly organised by Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) and Indian High Commission in Dhaka.
Apart from meeting his Bangladesh counterpart Masud Momen, Shringla will also call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the foreign minister Momen. Year-long programmes of the Mujib year will be taken at home and abroad.
India, which helped Bangladesh in 1971 war of independence, earlier announced that they will also work together to commemorate the two important anniversary years -- Bangabandhu's birth centenary in 2020; and 50 years of Bangladesh's War of Liberation, and the establishment of India-Bangladesh bilateral diplomatic ties in year 2021.
The 'Mujib Year’ will be followed by the golden jubilee celebrations of the country's independence in 2021. Both countries are jointly producing a film on Bangabandhu. Former Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and former Indian National Congress President Sonia Gandhi are also expected to visit Dhaka this year to attend the birth centenary celebrations of Bangabandhu.
Responding to a question about the ongoing movement in India over citizenship law and Modi's arrival in Bangladesh, the foreign minister after a programme in Dhaka on Sunday said they would do whatever required to honour the guest (Modi) who has agreed to come. “We would also expect that our guest has a good stand on the expectations of our people,” he said, without making details of that.
The India and Bangladesh relationship in recent years has been elevated at a level which is termed as ‘beyond strategic partnership’.
