New Delhi: India will be represented at the swearing-in of Bangladesh’s prime minister-designate Tarique Rahman in Dhaka on February 17 by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, the external affairs ministry announced on Sunday.
Bangladesh had on Saturday invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the swearing-in ceremony of Bangladesh’s newly elected government, though he will be unable to attend as he is set to receive French President Emmanuel Macron in Mumbai on February 17, people familiar with the matter said.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Lok Sabha Secretary General Utpal Singh are set to accompany Birla to Dhaka for the inauguration, the people said.
This is the first time that a group of foreign leaders has been invited to the inauguration of a new government in Bangladesh, a practice started in South Asia by Modi.
India is being represented by the Lok Sabha Speaker as he, along with the Chief Justice of India, comes after the Prime Minister in the official order of precedence. The Speaker’s participation in “this important event underscores the deep and enduring friendship between the peoples of India and Bangladesh, reaffirming India’s steadfast commitment to the democratic values that bind our two nations”, the external affairs ministry said.
{{/usCountry}}India is being represented by the Lok Sabha Speaker as he, along with the Chief Justice of India, comes after the Prime Minister in the official order of precedence. The Speaker’s participation in “this important event underscores the deep and enduring friendship between the peoples of India and Bangladesh, reaffirming India’s steadfast commitment to the democratic values that bind our two nations”, the external affairs ministry said.
{{/usCountry}}“The PM will be unable to attend as he is scheduled to receive the French President in Mumbai at almost the same time that the swearing-in ceremony will be held in Dhaka,” one of the people said. Macron is visiting India from February 17 to 19 to hold a bilateral meeting with Modi in Mumbai and to attend the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi.
The external affairs ministry also said that India, as a neighbour “united by a shared history, culture and mutual respect”, welcomes Bangladesh’s transition to an elected government under the leadership of Rahman, “whose vision and values have received an overwhelming mandate of the people”.
Rahman’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) won a landslide victory in the February 12 election, securing 212 of the 299 parliamentary seats for which polls were held. Modi was among the first leaders to congratulate Rahman and said he looks forward to working with the new government in Dhaka.
Besides India, the Bangladeshi side has invited 12 other countries to the inauguration, including members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc), barring Afghanistan, and other friendly nations. The countries that have been invited are Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Brunei, China, Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, and the United Arab Emirates.
The focus on Saarc is in keeping with the BNP’s efforts to revive the grouping, which was initiated by Rahman’s father, late president Ziaur Rahman.