President Pranab Mukherjee shakes hands with his Bangladeshi counterpart Abdul Hamid during a meeting at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Friday. (PTI)
President Pranab Mukherjee today handed over a 'historic audio-visual gift' comprising clippings of All India Radio and Doordarshan during 1971 liberation of Bangladesh to his visiting Bangladeshi counterpart Md Abdul Hamid.
Mr Mukherjee, who was discharged from a hospital after a week-long stay there during which he underwent coronary angioplasty, welcomed Hamid on his maiden visit to India and complimented him for the personal role played by him in consolidation of Indo-Bangla relations.
Mr Mukherjee assured him that India attaches the highest importance to bilateral relations with Bangladesh, a close friend and neighbour, as India always believed that a strong, stable and prosperous Bangladesh is in its interest.
It is greatly satisfying for India to see Bangladesh showing a high growth economy with a promising future. "It is heartening to see the impressive strides made by Bangladesh on human development, healthcare, education, women?s empowerment and other socio-economic fronts," the President was quoted in an official release.
Mr Mukherjee handed over to Hamid recordings of transmissions made by All India Radio and Doordarshan during the Liberation War of 1971.
He recalled that valiant Mukti Bahini soldiers fought along with Indian troops for Bangladesh's liberation and expressed the hope that these recordings will remind the people of Bangladesh of those momentous times.
Reciprocating similar sentiments, Bangladeshi President praised Mr Mukherjee for having been a friend of Bangladesh for long and said the people of Bangladesh hold the President in the highest of regard.
In a statement released in New Delhi, Prasar Bharati also gave details of two CDs of Akashvani that have been gifted by the President.
The first CD entitled 'Liberation of Bangladesh 1971' contains the public speeches from Akashvani Delhi of the then Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi and the Lok Sabha statements, interviews and speeches of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the surrender of Pakistani forces on the 16th of December, the public address of Rahman in January, 1972 and other programmes, that are mainly in Bengali.
The second CD entitled 'Struggle of a Nation' is based on the recordings of Akashvani, Kolkata, contain documentations of important happenings and events from March to December 1971 and the speeches of the then Prime Ministers of India and new nation of Bangladesh and live commentaries thereof, the statement said.
It also has the 'Samvad Bichitra' newsreel programme, that played a pivotal role during the Liberation Movement, it added.