Manmohan Singh's 'sentimental journey' to Bangladesh

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's maiden bilateral visit to Bangladesh was tonight described by him as a "sentimental journey".

"For me, a visit to Bangladesh has always been a sentimental journey. Just after the liberation of Bangladesh (in 1971), I was sent by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to work out an economic programme in the changed political context",  he reminisced to mediapersons while returning from Dhaka.

"I worked with Nurul Islam, the then Chairman of Bangladesh's Planning Commission, to finalize the economic programme", he said.

Going down the memory lane, the Prime Minister said he, along with Islam, then went to the house of "Bangabandhu" Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at 32 Dhamondi in central Dhaka and submitted their findings about the economic programme of a newly-independent country.

It was the same house, now converted into a museum for Sheikh Mujib, which Singh visited today and said it was a "very touching affair".

It was in the same house that Sheikh Mujib and most of his family members were gunned down on the intervening night of August 14-15, 1975, in a gruesome massacre by a group of rebellious members of Bangladesh army.

However, Mujib's daughters Sheikh Hasina, the present prime minister of Bangladesh, and Sheikh Rehana escaped the massacre because they were outside the country at that time.

The Prime Minister said India cannot realize its full potential unless it strenghtens its relations with its neighbours, particularly Bangladesh.

Asked about the problem of illegal migration from Bangladesh, he said now that the two countries have signed a land boundary agreement deciding to clearly demarcate the frontier, it can help check the "illegal movement of peole and goods across the border".

Asked if there was a consensus in Bangladesh political class beyond ruling Awami League led by Sheikh Hasina, about good relations with India, Singh said "the impression he came away with" after his talks today in Dhaka with leader of the opposition and BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and Jatiya Party chief Hussain Muhammad Ershad was that "they are willing to work with us to strehthen bilateral relations".

The prime minister, whose remarks about 25 per cent of Bangladeshis being under the influence of fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami had created a row, said India was willing to work with all political parties and shades of public opinion and the people of Bangladesh.