India’s new High Commissioner Dinesh Trivedi has said that he will ‘find a way’ to resolve various bilateral complications, including visas. Former Union Minister of India, former MP from Barrackpore and BJP leader Dinesh Trivedi entered Bangladesh along with his wife Mrinal Trivedi through the immigration check post at the Benapole land port in Jessore on Friday (June 12) morning. Acting High Commissioner of India Pawan Kumar Tulsidas Badhe and Deputy Chief of Protocol of the Ministry of External Affairs Arif Mahmud welcomed them. After completing immigration and protocol formalities, Dinesh Trivedi left for Dhaka amidst tight security.
When journalists asked at the Benapole immigration check post when tourist visas between the two countries would be reintroduced, Dinesh Trivedi said, “I can only say one thing; our population is 1.4 billion, and if I add 200 million, then it will be 160; … then whatever happens, will happen together. I am thinking separately – that doesn’t even enter my mind. Look, I came walking, it doesn’t feel like I am not Bangladeshi. … I always say the same sky, the same wind….”
Journalists also drew Dinesh Trivedi’s attention to the fact that India is pushing people across the border into Bangladesh by calling them illegal immigrants. In response, he said, “There are many issues in democracy. You have a strong democracy in Bangladesh, we also have a strong democracy; when the two democracies come together, they become a world power, an entire economic world power. But this combination is necessary, and I will definitely fulfill the responsibility I have for this. But you need to have support.”
When a journalist described India as a ‘big power’ next to Bangladesh, Dinesh Trivedi said, “No, no, we are both strong together; we cannot be one – the strength we have together is the real strength. And the whole world should see that strength. How great would it be if we were a cricket team together? Sports, health, then technology, education, we all make a team together…”
