Indian President Kovind set to visit Bangladesh tomorrow

As President Ram Nath Kovind undertakes a three-day state visit to Bangladesh from tomorrow, India today termed it as a "historically significant" event to mark the 50th Victory Day celebration and said there is "no unease" in the bilateral relationship.

Addressing a special media briefing for Kovind's visit, Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla made the statement in the capital today, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

Shringla was asked if incidents against Hindus during the last Durga Puja in Bangladesh seemed to have created some sort of unease in ties between the two countries at the people-to-people level and if he would you share that assessment or differ from that.

He said, "I think I would say that having visited the country just a short while ago (December 7-8), I would completely dispel any sense or any perception of that there is what you said (unease) in the relationship."

"The fact that the Indian President is going to Bangladesh at the invitation of his Bangladesh counterpart to commemorate on December 16, 50 years after Pakistani forces were defeated jointly by Indian and Bangladeshi forces, the birth of a new nation of Bangladesh is a very significant equation, a true occasion to cherish and it is not an occasion," Shringla said.

To a question if the US imposing sanctions on senior RAB officials of Bangladesh and cancellation of visa to Bangladesh's former army chief would cast a shadow on Victory Day celebrations in Dhaka, Shringla said, "We normally don't comment on relations between third countries, and on this occasion also, I would like to refrain from making any comments."

The foreign secretary said that President Kovind would visit the national martyrs' memorial at Savar tomorrow morning and also the Bangabandhu museum.

President Kovind is set to have talks with Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen are expected to call on Kovind.

Shringle said, "It is a measure of the importance that we attach to our relations with Bangladesh that it is the destination of the first post-pandemic visits by both the president and the prime minister of India."

Shringla said the Indian president's visit to Bangladesh "has several significant elements, particularly the strength of India-Bangladesh partnership".

India's federal minister of state Subhash Sarkar and MP Rajdeep Roy are supposed to accompany Kovind to Bangladesh.