New Dehi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today had a meeting with his visiting Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina in New Delhi, which he described as “good”. Hasina met Modi at his residence during a short trip of few hours to Delhi to condole the death of President Pranab Mukherjee’s wife Suvra and attend her funeral.
Modi had travelled to Dhaka on June 6-7 when he had held substantive talks with Hasina. During that visit, the two countries had concluded the historic Land Boundary Agreement for exchange of territories held by the respective countries. The two sides had also signed 22 pacts to deepen cooperation.
On Wednesday, Hasina met Mukherjee and offered her condolences on the demise of his wife. She also visited the 13, Talkatora Road residence of Abhijeet Mukherjee, the President’s son and MP, and placed a wreath on the body, which was kept there to enable people to offer their last respects.
Hasina is close to the Mukherjee family and had developed very close relations with Suvra during her life in exile in Delhi soon after the August 15, 1975 coup that saw the killing of Bangladesh’s independence architect Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members. Hasina and Rehana escaped the mayhem because they were abroad at that time. India had provided asylum to Hasina and Rehana for nearly six years post-coup.
Suvra Mukherjee’s ancestral home is in Bhadrabila village in western Bangladesh’s Narail district which she had visited last in March 2013.
PTI