Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in Dhaka for a two-day official visit, on Friday paid tribute to martyrs of the Bangladesh Liberation War at the National War Memorial. 

“I pay my heartfelt tribute to the patriotic martyrs of Bangladesh, whose glorious sacrifices enabled the birth of this great Nation,” Modi wrote in the visitor book there. 

“On behalf of the people of India, I pray that the eternal flame at Savar remains a lasting reminder of the noble victory of truth and courage over deceit and oppression,” he added.

 Modi is attending the celebrations of the golden jubilee of Bangladesh's independence and the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

He said may every visitor to this revered ground honor the sacred memory of the millions who were slain but not silenced.

This is his first visit after the Covid-19 crisis and the capital has been turned into a fortress as it sees unprecedented security arrangements. Earlier, in December last year, the two leaders held a virtual bilateral summit. He became the fifth leader to take part in the event. 

“The assassination of the Father of Bangladesh deprived the region of the destiny that could and should have been ours to share,” Modi wrote in an op-ed published in Daily Star. Had Bangabandhu not been murdered, he said, “Bangladesh and our region (South Asia) would have evolved along a very different trajectory".