Modi announces one-day national mourning for 'dearest friend' Shinzo Abe

Prime Minister Modi said he was shocked and saddened beyond words at the tragic demise of one of his 'dearest friends'

India on Friday mourned the death of Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who played a key role in expanding the relations between the two nations during his two stints at the helm of the government of the East Asian nation.

The government declared that a day of national mourning would be observed on Saturday as a mark of respect to the late leader.

Soon after Abe was assassinated at Nara City in Japan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to mourn the death of whom he described as “one of his dearest friends” and the “towering global statesman”.

Read | Shinzo Abe: Japan's longest-serving PM assassinated

The death of the 67-year-old leader of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was also condoled by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who recalled not only her meeting with the late leader but also his role in expanding and deepening bilateral relations between his nation and India.

Abe delivered his landmark “Confluence of the Two Seas” speech at a joint session of both the Houses of Parliament of India during his first visit to New Delhi as prime minister of Japan in August 2007. The speech laid the foundation of the concept of Indo-Pacific and larger cooperation between India and Japan as well as other nations in building an “arc of democracy” to counter the hegemonic aspirations of China. His efforts had been instrumental in launching and reviving the Quad – a coalition of India, Japan, Australia and the United States – to work together with the vision of a “free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific”.

He had again visited New Delhi 13 months after starting his second tenure as Prime Minister of Japan as Manmohan Singh’s government had invited him to be the chief guest in the Republic Day ceremony in January 2014

Modi, who took over as the prime minister in May 2014, developed a special relationship ever since he chose Tokyo as his first foreign destination beyond the neighbourhood. During the visit in September 2014, he and Abe elevated India-Japan relations to a “Special Strategic and Global Partnership”. They met altogether 12 times as prime ministers of India and Japan, including five annual summits, between 2014 and 2018 and expanded bilateral cooperation in diverse areas like civil nuclear energy, maritime security, bullet trains and infrastructure.

Also Read | Shinzo Abe: From 'Ganga Aarti to Padma Vibushan' — a dear friend who put Japan-India ties on fast track

“My association with Mr Abe goes back many years. I got to know him during my tenure as Gujarat CM and our friendship continued after I became PM. His sharp insights on economy and global affairs always made a deep impression on me,” Modi tweeted on Friday, recalling his last meeting with the former Japanese Prime Minister during his visit to Tokyo in May this year. “He was witty and insightful as always. Little did I know that this would be our last meeting.”

Modi accompanied Abe to witness Ganga Aarti in his constituency Varanasi in 2015 and on a visit to Gandhi Ashram at Sabarmati in Ahmedabad in his home state Gujarat in 2017. Abe also hosted him in his vacation home at Yamanashi in Japan in 2018.

“Today, whole India mourns with Japan and we stand in solidarity with our Japanese brothers and sisters in this difficult moment,” the prime minister tweeted on Friday.