Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina met her Indian counterpart Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Saturday, after which their two countries are expected to sign a clutch of pacts to strengthen trade and connectivity links.
Sheikh Hasina arrived in the Indian capital on Thursday on a four-day visit to India to further intensify bilateral relations between the two countries. She had met Modi on September 27 on the sidelines of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Hasina and Modi will inaugurate three projects, including one for the cross-border supply of LPG to the northeast, people familiar with developments have said.
India and Bangladesh are expected to review the Rohingya and Teesta river water sharing issues during Hasina’s visit.
They are also keen to publicly play down the issue of the implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, though officials from both sides privately acknowledged the matter is expected to figure when Hasina holds talks with Modi on Saturday.
Hasina had said on Thursday night that Bangladesh doesn’t foresee any problems with India over the NRC following an assurance from Modi during a brief interaction with journalists at a reception hosted by the Bangladesh high commission.
Some 1.9 million people found themselves left out of the final version of the NRC in Assam, and Dhaka has been concerned by statements by senior BJP leaders that these people will be deported to Bangladesh.
External affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar has said six to seven documents were expected to be signed in the fields of transport, connectivity, capacity-building and culture. Kumar said “relations have never been so close” and two sides will focus on “next steps to take the bilateral relationship into a different trajectory”.
The spokesperson had also played down the NRC as a “Supreme Court-mandated ongoing exercise”, saying, “The due process has to be completed first, (including) several appellate processes before you reach that stage.”
A senior Bangladeshi official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said while there was currently no concern at the official level on the NRC issue, people in Bangladesh were worried about the matter, especially in light of remarks by BJP leaders about deporting everyone left out of the register.
Other Bangladeshi officials, who too didn’t want to be identified, said the issue could give a boost to radical elements in their country whose activities had been successfully curtailed by the Hasina government.
The officials pointed to the divergence between assurances given by Modi and external affairs minister and public remarks by home minister Amit Shah, who has said every infiltrator will be driven out.
