Modi is also gifting 150 ambulances, 100 will be given to mark the celebrations and the rest of the 50 as part of India-Bangladesh Bilateral Relations, says Lahiri

The earlier plans before the coronavirus threat, the government of Bangladesh was planning a grand ceremony which was to be addressed by Prime Minister Modi.

Prime Minister Hasina has informed Modi and other dignitaries that a grand the celebration has been planned for later in the year once the situation improves, says Lahiri.

In his weekly briefing the official spokesperson of MEA Raveesh Kumar had said that “A formal notification from the Bangladesh Government regarding the postponement of the public events planned for the celebration of the centenary of the birth of the father of the nation Bangabandhu was received.”

The celebratory events were postponed due to the detection of cases of coronavirus in Bangladesh, and a larger public health situation in this regard.

Highly placed sources said that Prime Minister Modi was very keen to visit Dhaka on this occasion and wanted to renew the bilateral relationship and to take it to newer heights.

“Apart from acknowledging the towering role played by Bangabandhu for the freedom of the country, Modi is likely to touch some of the newly proposed connectivity projects as well as people to people relations” says, Lahiri.

Kamal Abdul Chowdhury, the Chairman of the Celebration Committee had announced that programmes which were related to the birth centenary were either scaled-down or were being postponed due to Covid-19. The events planned are going to be smaller and lesser public gatherings.

So much so, the event planned for March 17 to be inaugurated by Bangladesh Prime Minister Hasina will be without any public gathering.

Modi is also gifting 150 ambulances, 100 will be given to mark the celebrations and the rest of the 50 as part of India-Bangladesh Bilateral Relations, says Lahiri.

Earlier this month Modi’s planned visit for the India-EU Summit in Brussels was cancelled due to Coronavirus.