DHAKA: Just a week to go for his first-ever visit to Dhaka next month, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi compared  the settling of the much-anticipated Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh with the fall of the Berlin Wall.

“We had settled the long pending land boundary issues with Bangladesh by taking all parties into confidence,” said the Indian premier.

Modi criticized the media, mostly from his home country, as they failed to focus on the land boundary issue. “The media has not realised this was a massive achievement and is talking of other issues,” he said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party leader went on comparing the issue of deal settlement with the fall of the Berlin Wall. Modi said “Had this been elsewhere in the world this would have been cited as an example as big as the fall of the Berlin Wall.”

Modi’s remarks came at an interview on with India’s Chandigarh-based English daily The Tribune on May 29.

When he was asked by the daily’s Editor-in-Chief Raj Chengapp; “You are visiting Bangladesh next week after resolving the border issue. Will there be also a deal on the sharing of Teesta waters?” The first-time India premier disclosed nothing about it, avoiding direct answer.

He said; “The entire mood of our neighbourhood has changed dramatically because of our message of shared prosperity being implemented on the ground.”

“Mine is practical and outcome-based diplomacy,” Modi clarified his position.

At the beginning of this month, Indian Parliament passed the Indo-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement Bill, clearing the way of implementation after some 41 long years.

Modi termed the bill approval as “a historic milestone in India-Bangladesh relations”.

“This would contribute to a stable and peaceful boundary, better management and coordination of the border and will lead to enhanced security as well,” he hopped at that time.

The Indian primer is all set to pay a two-day official visit to Bangladesh on June 6 and 7. Modi is expected to call on President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during the visit.

BDST: 1556 HRS, MAY 30, 2015
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