Modi, Hasina will meet on Friday
Kolkata: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina will address the convocation at the Visva- Bharati University and hold bilateral talks on May 25, sources said. The two leaders will also inaugurate the Bangladesh Bhavan at Santiniketan.
Santiniketan/ Kolkata, May 22: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina will address the convocation at the Visva Bharati University and hold bilateral talks there on May 25, official sources said.
The two leaders will also inaugurate the Bangladesh Bhavan at the university.
Ms Hasina will arrive in Kolkata on the morning of May 25, sources at the Bangladesh deputy high commission said.
She would then leave for Santiniketan in Birbhum district, about 160km from the state capital. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee will also attend the programme at the university founded by Rabindranath Tagore.
Mr Modi, the chancellor of the university, will inaugurate the Bangladesh Bhavan with Ms Hasina and hold a bilateral meeting there, the sources said.
The Prime Minister is the university chancellor. The last time a chancellor was present at the convocation at VisvaBharati was in 2008, when Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister.
There has been no convocation in the central university for the past four years, officials said.
After the events in Santiniketan, Ms Hasina is scheduled to leave for Kolkata, where she is likely to visit Jorasanko Thakur Bari, Tagore’s ancestral home in north Kolkata, an official said.
On May 26, Ms Hasina will visit Kazi Nazrul University in Asansol in West Burdwan district where she will be conferred with an honorary D. Lit. Ms Banerjee will be the chief guest at the convocation. On her return to Kolkata, Ms Hasina is likely to visit Netaji Bhavan, the ancestral home of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.