Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina on Saturday reviewed progress in development and connectivity initiatives even as the two countries signed five agreements in areas ranging from trade to disaster management. On the second and final day of his first foreign visit since the Covid-19 outbreak last year, Modi held one-on-one talks with Hasina in Dhaka. This was followed by delegation-level talks that lasted more than an hour. The two leaders discussed progress in areas such as trade, connectivity, health, energy and developmental cooperation, according to external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi.
The two sides signed five memorandums of understanding (MoUs) covering disaster management and mitigation, establishment of a framework for cooperation in trade remedial measures, establishment of sports facilities at Rajshahi College, cooperation between Bangladesh National Cadet Corps and India’s National Cadet Corps, and the supply of ICT equipment, reference books and training for the Bangladesh-Bharat Digital Service and Employment Training Centre.
Though, shortly after Modi’s two day visit to the neighbor country, controversies flamed regarding the brief visit. A picture of some Congress leaders with Sheikh Hasina started circulating on social media. The picture shows Sonia Gandhi facing Hasina and in the middle of a discussion, while Manmohan Singh and others look on. It is being sarcastically said that Sonia took former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on a tour to Bangladesh during the UPA regime. As the picture clearly shows Sonia and Hasina taking the prominent seats, netizens are taking a dig at Manmohan, saying he was merely a “mute spectator” during the UPA government and someone else was pulling the strings.
A netizen posted the picture on March 28 and wrote, “Once upon a time Sonia Gandhi once took Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on a tour of Bangladesh!”
Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) found that the claim along with the picture to be misleading. The picture was taken in October 2019 when the Congress leaders met Hasina in New Delhi. Sonia took the prominent seat as party chief. After a reverse image search, it was found in a report by NDTV which says on October 6, 2019, Hasina had met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi along with other leaders of the party, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Anand Sharma, and former PM Manmohan Singh, in New Delhi. At that time, Hasina was on a four-day visit to India. Also, the viral picture can be found in the photo gallery of “Outlook”, captioned, “Congress President Sonia Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh and party leaders meet Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at Hyderabad House, in New Delhi.”
Thus, the viral image is old and Manmohan Singh visited Bangladesh as PM in 2011. But the viral picture was not taken during the UPA regime but some 18 months back in New Delhi.
