Besides restoring and opening vital connectivity for more productive relations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to Dhaka, seen as historic, brought back memories of the 1971 war of liberation.
When the people of the then East Pakistan were fighting the Pakistan Army, India stood with its eastern neighbour in its quest for Independence.
During Mr. Modi’s trip, he and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina exchanged significant articles that are a throwback to 1971. Mr. Modi presented Ms. Hasina a memento depicting the helm of INS Vikrant , the Indian naval ship which played a major role in the war. He handed over an audio recording of the historic speech of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, founding father of Bangladesh, at Brigade Maidan in Kolkata on February 6, 1972, and a set of DVDs of parliamentary debates and a transcript of the Land Boundary Agreement.
Ms. Hasina gave Mr. Modi a photograph of the signing of the historic instrument of surrender of the 93,000 Pakistani military men to the India-Bangladesh Joint Command in Dhaka on December16, 1971. She handed over a map of the Indian Special Economic Zone in Bangladesh and a replica of the 1,320-MW Maitree Super Thermal Power Project at Rampal.
INS Vikrant played the most crucial part in shortening the war, cutting off the reinforcements sent from the then West Pakistan to the East.
Mr. Modi received the Bangladesh Liberation War Award on behalf of the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
