Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in Bangladesh today for a two-day stay, his first as the coronavirus pandemic broke out. PM Modi talks about a joint march towards a glorious world where people can “research, work, and do business peacefully across the subcontinent” in such a special op-ed published in leading Bangladesh newspaper The Daily Star ahead of the tour. He also discusses “resolving complex bilateral problems in a sense of good neighbourliness” when it comes to resolving complex bilateral issues.
As per the PM, India and Bangladesh also made significant strides in communication, citing proposals such as Bangladeshi barges travelling all the way to Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.
“Cargo from Bangladesh can move to Nepal and Bhutan through India. We are in the process of implementing a similar arrangement for Indian cargo to reach India’s North Eastern States through Bangladesh. We are making concerted efforts to operationalise our inland waterways, which will allow Bangladesh barges to reach all the way to Varanasi and Sahibganj in India.”
He speaks about ventures such as the India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline as well as the Akhaura-Agartala rail link being built.
The Prime Minister further pays glowing tribute to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh’s first President and father of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, writing on how the subcontinent would have evolved had”Bangabandhu” not been assassinated in 1975. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was slain at his residence, including the rest of his relatives. Sheikh Rehana and Sheikh Hasina, his children, survived because they were abroad.
“It is a safe bet that with Bangabandhu at the helm, Bangladesh and our region would have evolved along a very different trajectory,” PM Modi writes.
Talking about Bangladesh rising from the ashes of a painful war at the time, he says: “If this had continued, perhaps India and Bangladesh could have achieved many decades ago some of the accomplishments that we were able to reach only recently… For instance, India and Bangladesh were able to finally overcome the complications of history through the 2015 Land Boundary Agreement. It was a historic moment in the history of modern nation-states. But had Bangabandhu been at the helm longer, this achievement may have come much earlier.”
As per the Prime Minister, the two nations may have built a closely integrated economic union with profoundly intertwined supply chain spanning food production to light industry, electronics and technological goods to advanced materials, and defined frameworks to exchange meteorological, maritime, and geological information to prevent from natural disasters.
“Most of all, imagine a scenario wherein our people could study, work, and do business effortlessly across this subcontinent-the world’s largest pool of young people joining their energies to create wealth, innovation and drive new technologies. This would have been the most natural vaccine against the toxic infusion of radicalism, violent extremism and hatred in our societies,” writes PM Modi.
“And yet today, it is possible in this dawn of a new and rising Bangladesh to believe that this future is once again within our grasp. With growing income and prosperity, Bangladesh is progressively realising the dream of Bangabandhu, under the able leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. It is time to once again chart a bold ambition for our partnership, as Bangabandhu would have done. With the spirit and enterprise of our people as our Bhagya Vidhata, the dispenser of our shared destiny, such a future is closer than ever.”
