Om Birla to attend Tarique Rahman's swearing-in

New Delhi: As Tarique Rahman is set to be sworn in as the new prime minister of Bangladesh on Tuesday, New Delhi has decided to send Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to Dhaka to represent India at the oath-taking ceremony.

Birla will be accompanied by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri. An invitation from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to his new counterpart in Dhaka for an early visit to New Delhi is also likely to be conveyed after the ceremony.

The BNP, led by Tarique Rahman, won the parliamentary elections in Bangladesh, beating Jamaat-e-Islami.
The participation of the Lok Sabha Speaker at this event would underscore the deep and enduring friendship between the peoples of India and Bangladesh.

It would also reaffirm India’s steadfast commitment to the democratic values that bind it to Bangladesh, the MEA said.

The BNP had invited Modi to attend the swearing-in ceremony.

New Delhi, however, conveyed to the BNP that the prime minister would not be able to attend the ceremony as he would have to host French President Emmanuel Macron for a meeting in Mumbai on the same day.

“As neighbours united by a shared history, culture, and mutual respect, India welcomes Bangladesh’s transition to an elected government under the leadership of Tarique Rahman, whose vision and values have received an overwhelming mandate of the people,” MEA said in the statement.

Modi on Friday called and congratulated Rahman after his win in the elections,
which were held without the participation of the Awami League, the party that had won the last four parliamentary elections in the 54-year-old nation.

Dhaka’s relations with New Delhi had come under stress during Rahman’s mother, Khaleda Zia’s stints as prime minister of Bangladesh.

Her government had allowed the militant organisation operating in the northeastern states of India to set up camps in Bangladesh.

She had turned down New Delhi’s request to Dhaka for connectivity through Bangladesh between India’s landlocked northeastern states and its mainland.

The clashes between border guards of the two nations often escalated tension between the two nations. The bilateral relations returned to a positive trajectory after Sheikh Hasina’s return to power in early 2009.