New Delhi/Dhaka: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday paid his homage to martyrs of Bangladesh freedom struggle when he visited the National Martyrs’ Memorial (Jatiyo Sriti Shoudho), the National monument of Bangladesh.
The monument is located in Savar, about 35 km north-west of Dhaka and was designed by Syed Mainul Hossain.
Prime Minister Modi also planted a sapling of the Arjun tree at the memorial premises and signed the visitor’s book in the monument. He wrote – “I pray that the eternal flame at Savar remains a lasting reminder of the noble victory of truth and courage over deceit and oppression.”
In the same complex, the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee also had planted a sapling during his Bangladesh visit in 1999.
In Twitter messages in Bangla and English, the Prime Minister also said that his visit will contribute to even stronger bilateral relations between the two nations.
In an article for Dhaka-based newspaper ‘Daily Star’, Mr Modi wrote: “I ask myself, what could our subcontinent have looked like, had this modern-day giant not been assassinated?
It is a hard question to answer…., he wrote adding; “It is a safe bet that with Bangabandhu at the helm, Bangladesh and our region would have evolved along a very different trajectory. A sovereign, self-confident Bangladesh, at peace with its neighbours, bearing friendship to all and malice towards none, was rising fast from the ashes of a painful war.”
The Prime Minister further wrote: “If this had continued, perhaps India and Bangladesh could have achieved many decades ago some of the accomplishments that we were able to reach only recently.”
