Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (File photo)

Prime minister Narendra Modi will have to work hard to assuage uncertainties and hurt feelings inside Bangladesh when he visits Dhaka on March 17 to deliver the keynote address at the Mujib centenary celebrations.

This week, the Speaker of the Bangladesh parliament was the latest to cancel her visit to India. Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury was leading an 18-member delegation to India on the invitation by her counterpart Om Birla . The cancellation was attributed to the preparation needed for a special session of the Bangladesh parliament on March 22-23. The cancellation of her trip also coincides with protests in Bangladesh this week against the Delhi riots, which left several people injured. The opposition party BNP has also opposed Modi’s visit.

Modi’s visit is likely to include some bilateral agreements on connectivity, for instance, on inland waterways, increasing frequency of trains etc. But the focus of his visit will be on the centenary celebrations which holds a special significance for Sheikh Hasina .

But lurking below the surface will be the tensions in that country over India’s CAA-NRC moves. Some of their apprehensions were allayed by foreign secretary Harsh Shringla when he was in Dhaka last week, the first high level visit to that country after the CAA was passed. The Indian government including the Indian mission in Dhaka has been criticized for poor outreach to not only the government but regular Bangladeshis to explain the new citizenship law to them.

Shringla said, in an address in Dhaka, “The National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise is “a process that is entirely internal to India. Therefore, there will be no implications for the Government and people of Bangladesh. You have our assurance on that count.”

But in a reminder that politics rules not only India but Bangladesh as well, the Bangladesh foreign minister, A.K. Abdul Momen urged India not to do anything that would hurt Bangladesh. “"We are a political government. We were elected by people’s votes. India should not do anything so that we have to answer people for their actions,” he cautioned this week.

India and Bangladesh have untangled some bureaucratic hurdles that will now allow Bangladesh to procure defense equipment from India.

