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Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi, along with former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, called on Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in New Delhi on Monday, the Hindustan Times reports.
Sheikh Hasina was in New Delhi to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his council of ministers, according to the report.
The connection between Sheikh Hasina and the Gandhi family can be traced back to the relationship between their predecessors. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Sheikh Hasina’s father and the founding leader of Bangladesh, had a cordial relationship with Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister of India. Indira Gandhi played a significant role during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, supporting Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan, which has fostered a long-standing sense of gratitude and mutual respect, the report notes.
Sheikh Hasina arrived in New Delhi on Saturday to attend high-profile event in which top leaders from India’s neighbourhood and the Indian Ocean region including Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe participated.
Indian President Droupadi Murmu on Sunday hosted a banquet for the foreign dignitaries at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, an official statement said.
Bangladesh foreign minister Muhammad Hasan Mahmud said that Sheikh Hasina has expressed her willingness to work with the new government in the future to strengthen the ties.
“...PM Sheikh Hasina attended the oath-taking ceremony (of PM Modi and the council of ministers) and after that, she had a one-to-one meeting with PM Narendra Modi, where she again congratulated him and the NDA for winning the elections. She expresses her willingness to work with the new government in future to strengthen the ties,” Hasan Mahmud told ANI.
“She has also invited PM Modi to visit Bangladesh,” he noted.