India’s top diplomat arrived in Bangladesh on Wednesday keen to placate his hosts after comments by the prime minister last week calling many Bangladeshis “anti-Indian” caused uproar. External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said that New Delhi attached “the highest importance to relations with Bangladesh”, adding that he hoped to sign several agreements during his three-day visit.
“Our bilateral relations are passing through the best phase in recent times with a number of new and forward-looking initiatives taken by the leadership of the two countries,” he said in a speech after landing in Dhaka. Krishna’s trip was planned weeks ago but has been overshadowed by comments made by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at a press meeting.
Singh told editors in New Delhi that many Bangladeshis were “very anti-Indian”, triggering outcry in Bangladesh. He also said that members of Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, were “in the clutches” of Pakistan’s intelligence agency.
