Hasina put behind personal loss, took Bangla on path of success: Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today hailed his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina for her country's development by putting behind a personal tragedy, which saw the massacre of 16 of her family members in a coup.

"Can anyone imagine when 16 members of your family are murdered? And one daughter struggled to realise the dreams of 'Sonar Bangla' (golden Bangladesh). This is not a common thing. She (Hasina) stands rock solid and is working to take her country on the path of development.

"I hail her courage. The way she brought herself and her country out of troubled times. Very few have this courage," he said. The Prime Minister was speaking at the ceremony where families of martyrs of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War were felicitated by Hasina.

Hasina's father Shaikh Mujibur Rehman, famously known as 'Bangabandhu', and one of the leaders who led the Bangladesh Liberation movement were assassinated in a coup in 1975, along with the former's family members. Hasina and her sister Rehana escaped the attack as they were not in the country at that time.

Modi said Bangladesh has achieved phenomenal success in several areas after its independence. Listing out the achievements, he said since 1971, the average life expectancy of Bangladeshis have increased several times than India's, and its GDP has grown 31 times in 35 years.

The BJP leader said the infant mortality rate has gone down from 222 per 1,000 live births to 38 per 1,000 live births, and export has increased 125 times. "This speaks for a lot of change. Bangladesh is crossing new limits of economic development by following the vision of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina," he added.