Indian social media is on fire sharing photos of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina meeting Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra during her visit to New Delhi.
Hasina was in Delhi to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his council of ministers.
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She arrived in India in the afternoon of 8 June and was the first foreign leader to arrive for PM Modi’s oath-taking ceremony.
A day after the oath-taking, the opposition Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi, along with former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, called on Hasina.
The meeting took place at ITC Maurya Sheraton hotel in New Delhi where Hasina was staying.
The bonhomie between Hasina and the Gandhis was evident as Hasina was hugged warmly by Sonia, Rahul, and Priyanka, during what the Congress party officially termed as a “courtesy call because of long-standing links between the Gandhi family and the Hasina family”.
These links date back to the relationship between Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, founding father of Bangladesh, and Indira Gandhi, the then prime minister of India. Indira Gandhi played a key role during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, supporting Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan.
Hasina had come to Delhi in 1975 at the age of 28, and stayed here till 1981 during a period of political turmoil in Bangladesh. At that time, the Congress-run government in India had provided security and shelter to Hasina and her sister Rehana.
The details of the meeting were not provided in detail, but the Congress party shared the pictures on its official handle. The video was shared by Rahul Gandhi on his WhatsApp channel, with the message:
“Met with the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, H.E. Sheikh Hasina Wazed ji, along with CPP Chairperson Smt. Sonia Gandhi ji, and Congress General Secretary Smt. Priyanka Gandhi, this afternoon in New Delhi. We discussed a wide range of topics to further strengthen the natural bond that India and Bangladesh share, based on trust, cooperation, and a commitment to mutual growth.”
Meanwhile, Union Minister S Jaishankar also met Hasina and assured her of further advancement in India-Bangladesh ties.
Earlier, Hasina met PM Modi to congratulate him on winning a third consecutive term in office, and also invited him to visit Bangladesh.
