Coronavirus: Modi unlikely to visit Bangladesh on March 17

New Delhi, Mar 09: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is unlikely to travel to Dhaka on March 17. The decision to cancel the visit was taken in the wake of the coronavirus threat.

Modi was to visit Dhaka at the invitation of his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina to attend the centenary celebrations of Bangladesh founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla was in Bangladesh earlier this month and during his visit he had assured Bangladesh that the updation of the National Register of Citizens will have "no implications" for its people, asserting that it is a process that is "entirely internal" to the country.

Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen and Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan cancelled their visits to India in December over the prevailing situation following the passage of the new citizenship bill by Parliament.

Dhaka was also apparently upset following the roll out of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam even though India conveyed to it that the issue was an internal matter of the country.

"Updation of National Register of Citizens is a process that is entirely internal to India," Shringla had said in an address in Dhaka.

"India assures Bangladesh that NRC will have no implications for the country and its people," he had said.

Prime Minister Modi's visit to Brussels this month to hold a summit meeting with the European Union has been postponed in view of the global spread of coronavirus.