President Abdul Hamid meets his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi yesterday. Photo: PIB, India Indian President Pranab Mukherjee yesterday handed over a “historic audio-visual gift” comprising recordings of transmissions made by All India Radio and Doordarshan during the 1971 Liberation War to his visiting Bangladeshi counterpart Abdul Hamid. The two heads
of state met at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi yesterday evening, said an Indian government statement. During the meeting, Mukherjee told Hamid that New Delhi attaches the highest importance to relations with Dhaka, saying a strong, stable and prosperous Bangladesh is in India's interest. The Indian president also recalled Bangladesh's valiant freedom fighters who fought along with Indian troops for Bangladesh's liberation and expressed the hope that the recordings would remind the people of Bangladesh about those momentous events. Expressing similar sentiments, Hamid praised Mukherjee for having been a friend of Bangladesh for long and said the people of Bangladesh hold the Indian president in their highest esteem. Earlier, Mukherjee, who was discharged yesterday from a hospital after a week-long stay there during which he underwent a coronary angioplasty, welcomed Hamid on his maiden visit to India and complimented him on his personal role in strengthening India-Bangla relations. Mukherjee said it was greatly satisfying for India to see Bangladesh showing a high economic growth with a promising future. Advertisement "It is heartening to see the impressive strides made by Bangladesh regarding human development, healthcare, education, women empowerment and other socio-economic issues," the Indian president was quoted in the statement. After the meeting, Mukherjee hosted a dinner for Hamid which was attended by, among others, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Bangladesh's State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam and Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Syed Moazzem Ali. Meanwhile, in a statement released in New Delhi, Indian public service broadcaster Prasar Bharati has given details of two CDs of Akashvani (Air India Radio) that was gifted by the Indian president yesterday, reports PTI. The first CD titled “Liberation of Bangladesh 1971” contains the public speeches from Akashvani Delhi of the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the Lok Sabha statements, interviews and speeches of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the broadcast of surrender of Pakistani forces on December 16, the public address of Bangabandhu in January, 1972, and other programmes, that are mainly in Bangla. The second CD titled “Struggle of a Nation” is based on the recordings of Akashvani Kolkata, and contains documentations of important events from March to December 1971 and the speeches of the then Prime Ministers of India and Bangladesh, and live commentaries. The gift also has the “Sangbad Bichitra” newsreel programme, that played a pivotal role during the 1971 Liberation War, the statement added.
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