President Ram Nath Kovind will be travelling to Bangladesh on a three-day visit on Wednesday. This will be his first foreign trip since the COVID-19 pandemic began. 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 resulted in the liberation of Bangladesh.
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. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen are slated to call on him. President Hamid will also hold a banquet in honour of Kovind on Wednesday, reported Times Now.
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, the Times Now report said.
Around 93,000 Pakistani troops had surrendered before the joint forces of the Indian Army and the "Mukti Bahini" on December 16, 1971, paving the way for the birth of Bangladesh. Mere weeks later, the newly formed country had changed its name to Bangladesh and became a parliamentary democracy.
