Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday paid rich tributes to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in an article in leading Bangladesh newspaper The Daily Star, describing him as one of the greatest statesmen of our times.

Citing Bangabandhu’s quote of the 1950s  : "I know at least this much: no one should be murdered because he holds views different from mine," PM Modi wrote : It was this rare combination of deep-seated belief in his own ideals, and yet the openness of mind to accept a different opinion, that made Bangabandhu one of the greatest statesmen of our times. It endeared Bangabandhu to the people of India as well. In him, we saw a tall leader whose vision went beyond the narrow confines of physical borders and social divisions. That is why we join our Bangladeshi sisters and brothers in celebrating Bangabandhu's memory in this very special Mujib Borsho.

The PM’s article delves into the question of what our subcontinent could have looked like, had Bangabandhu not been brutally assassinated on that dark morning of August 25.

It is a safe bet that with Bangabandhu at the helm, Bangladesh and our region would have evolved along a very different trajectory. A sovereign, self-confident Bangladesh, at peace with its neighbours, bearing friendship to all and malice towards none, was rising fast from the ashes of a painful war. If this had continued, perhaps India and Bangladesh could have achieved many decades ago some of the accomplishments that we were able to reach only recently, the article states. PM Modi mentions the overcoming of the complications of history through the 2015 Land Boundary Agreement as an example in this regard.  

 But had Bangabandhu been at the helm longer, this achievement may have come much earlier. Had that happened, our cooperation would have reached a different orbit all together, enabling development, economic growth and shared security, the article points out.

PM Modi also cites the example of Europe and ASEAN as an achievement of “incredible success in bringing people together to partake in a prosperous and shared future” as what could have been achieved in South Asia.

“I am sure that with his visionary world-view, Bangabandhu would have dared to dream something even bigger for our subcontinent,” the article states.

 With the spirit of the Liberation War energising us, and with Bangabandhu as the guiding star, this region, at least the Bay of Bengal area, might have been in a different reality now.

Could have built a closely integrated economic region, with deeply interlinked value-chains spanning food processing to light industry, electronics and technology products to advanced materials. We could have created inter-governmental structures to maximise the economic, scientific and strategic benefits of a community of hundreds of millions of people. We could have set up mechanisms to share meteorological, maritime and geological data among ourselves and with our other neighbouring countries, saving our region from the impacts of natural disasters, PM Modi explains.

We could have joined our maritime capacities—from fisheries to offshore mineral resource exploration—to propel rapid economic growth in and around the world's biggest Bay: the Bay of Bengal. We could have developed a vast multimodal connectivity network of roads, navigable rivers and riverports, railways, ports, container yards and airports, seamlessly integrated and coordinated through a Bay of Bengal transportation and logistics council. This could have allowed goods to move quickly and seamlessly, even multiple times during the production process, across IT-enabled and highly modernised borders, the article adds.

Most of all, imagine a scenario wherein our people could study, work, and do business effortlessly across this subcontinent…This would have been the most natural vaccine against the toxic infusion of radicalism, violent extremism and hatred in our societies.

This is the Shonali Adhyaya that we may have been living in had it not been for that tragic Friday morning of August 1975. The assassination of the Father of Bangladesh deprived the region of the destiny that could and should have been ours to share, PM Modi states.

Looking ahead

The article goes ahead with a vision for the future :

And yet today, it is possible in this dawn of a new and rising Bangladesh to believe that this future is once again within our grasp. With growing income and prosperity, Bangladesh is progressively realising the dream of Bangabandhu, under the able leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. It is time to once again chart a bold ambition for our partnership, as Bangabandhu would have done. With the spirit and enterprise of our people as our Bhagya Vidhata, the dispenser of our shared destiny, such a future is closer than ever. PM Modi writes.

Our exciting recent journey gives me hope. In a spirit of good neighbourliness, we have resolved complex issues amicably. Our land and maritime boundaries stand settled. We have substantial cooperation covering almost all aspects of human endeavour. Our trade has reached historic levels, aiding economic activities in each other's countries. Our people-to-people exchanges remain robust as ever.

We have also made good progress in the area of connectivity. Cargo from Bangladesh can move to Nepal and Bhutan through India. We are in the process of implementing a similar arrangement for Indian cargo to reach India's North Eastern States through Bangladesh. We are making concerted efforts to operationalise our inland waterways, which will allow Bangladesh barges to reach all the way to Varanasi and Sahibganj in India. India has amended its regulations to encourage cross-border trade in power, which will benefit countries in the region.

In this historic commemorative year, we look forward to the completion of important connectivity projects like the India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline and the Akhaura-Agartala rail link. As our connectivity improves, our business will increase, our partnership will deepen, and we will open new vistas of cooperation. I firmly believe that we are once again striving towards a destiny that the Liberation of Bangladesh had once augured for our region.

India will remain Bangladesh's partner as we jointly march towards the golden future for which Bangabandhu, and millions of patriotic Bangladeshis, and indeed thousands of Indians, gave their all, the Prime Minister said in his concluding remark.   

Read Modi’s opinion in Bangladeshi newspaper, The Daily Star here.