India confers top award on Bangladesh founding leader

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) – Ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangladesh, India on Monday named Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh’s founding leader, for the Gandhi Peace Prize 2020, an official statement said.

The Gandhi Peace Prize is an annual award instituted by the government of India in 1995, the 125th birth anniversary commemoration year of Indian freedom icon Mahatma Gandhi.

“The Jury met… and after due deliberations unanimously decided to select Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the recipient of the Gandhi Peace Prize for the year 2020, in recognition of his outstanding contributions towards social, economic and political transformation through non-violent and other Gandhian methods,” the Ministry of Culture said.

Modi, who also chaired the five-member jury, said Rahman “was a champion of human rights and freedom, as well as a hero to Indians.”

The award carries an amount of 10 million Indian rupees (approximately $139,000).

“The path showed by Bangabandhu has laid a strong foundation for the partnership, progress and prosperity of both countries over the last decade,” said Modi.

People in Bangladesh call the founding father Bangabandhu, or Friend of Bengal.

“The Gandhi Peace Prize recognizes the immense and unparalleled contribution of Bangabandhu... laying the foundation for the close and fraternal relations between India and Bangladesh, and promoting peace and non-violence in the Indian subcontinent,” the statement added.

The award was announced ahead of Modi’s visit to Bangladesh later this week.

Bangladesh is celebrating the golden jubilee of independence and Rehman's 100th birth anniversary on March 26.

“It is a special prize and a great honor… the award shows deepening relations between India and Bangladesh,” Veena Sikri, India’s former high commissioner to Bangladesh and professor at New Delhi-based Jamia Millia Islamia, told Anadolu Agency.