Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with the Bangladesh government’s chief adviser, Muhammad Yunus, on the sidelines of the 6th BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok on Friday.
One can easily observe that the warmth that always happens during Prime Minister Modi’s meetings with heads of state was completely missing. Prime Minister Narendra Modi often hugs any world leader during his meetings, but the gesture was not witnessed with Yunus.
#WATCH | PM Narendra Modi and Bangladesh Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus hold a meeting in Bangkok, Thailand pic.twitter.com/4POheM34JJ
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The prime minister welcomed him with “Namaste” and the two leaders shook hands. Normally, the prime minister meets with any state head, he talks with the leader with a smile on his face. But, here the two leaders were seen quite in a short video.
Bangladesh had made a request for meeting: Sources
Bangladesh had formally requested PM Modi’s meeting with Muhammad Yunus in December but India did not reply. Sources said India accepted Bangladesh’s request at the last moment.
The hostile behavior of Bangladesh in recent times could be the reason of the missing warmth between the two leaders.
Bangladesh’s Chief Advisor, Muhammad Yunus, claimed that Bangladesh is the “only guardian” of the Indian Ocean for the region, as the seven northeastern Indian states are “landlocked.”
Former Indian envoy slammed remarks of Yunus
Former Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Veena Sikri, has strongly condemned the statement.
After Yunus made these remarks during his four-day visit to China, the former Indian envoy asserted that the Nobel Laureate had “no right” to make such a statement.
‘Northeast is an integral part of India‘
Sikri said, “Very shocking statement by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus. He has absolutely no right to make a statement like that. He knows that the northeast is an integral part of India, and we have had very close discussions with the Government of Bangladesh on access by Northeast India to the Bay of Bengal, and there are formal agreements on this.”
