President Ram Nath Kovind Wednesday morning arrived in Bangladesh for his first foreign trip since the COVID-19 pandemic began last year. During the three-day visit, he will attend Victory Day celebrations and represent India as the guest of honour. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the 1971 India-Pakistan war that had resulted in the liberation of Bangladesh.
Visuals shared by news agency ANI showed Kovind meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka on Wednesday afternoon. As per updates shared by Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, President Kovind will also hold a delegation-level meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart, President Abdul Hamid. PM Hasina and Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen are also slated to call on him. President Hamid will also hold a banquet in honour of Kovind today.
President Kovind will be the guest of honour for the Victory Day parade – the only foreign dignitary to be attending the celebrations in such a capacity. The parade, incidentally, will have a 122-member tri-services contingent from the Indian armed forces.
Special importance is also being attached to the event as it commemorates the golden jubilee of Bangladesh’s independence and 50 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Kovind will also interact with ‘Mukti Jodhas’ – the people of Bangladesh who took up arms and fought to free their country. A delegation of Indian veterans will also call upon the President. He will also visit the National Martyrs’ Memorial and the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum.
On December 16, 1971, around 93,000 Pakistani troops had surrendered before the joint forces of the Indian Army and the “Mukti Bahini”, paving the way for the birth of Bangladesh. Weeks later, the newly formed country had changed its name to Bangladesh and became a parliamentary democracy.
Earlier this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited Bangladesh for the golden jubilee celebration of its independence, the birth centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and 50 years of establishment of diplomatic ties.
