Stringent security at Santiniketan for Modi, Hasina visit
Santiniketan, May 24 (IANS) Stringent security arrangements are in place for the 49th convocation of the Visva-Bharati University here, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina slated to attend the event on Friday.
This will be Modi's first visit to Santiniketan -- the sprawling campus housing the university built by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in Bolpur sub-division of West Bengal's Birbhum district.
Besides an advance team of SPG personnel, Rapid Action Force, crack commandos and a large number of state police personnel have been deployed to ensure fool-proof security. Sniffer dogs are doing the rounds of the venues -- the convocation arena as also the Bangladesh Bhavan, which would be inaugurated on Friday.
Modi would inaugurate the Bangladesh Bhavan, besides holding an unofficial "summit" with Hasina.
Both Modi, Chancelleor of the university, and Hasina would address the convocation.
West Bengal Governor K.N. Tripathi and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will also be present at the convocation.
Hasina's sister Rehana, and a large team of Bangladesh ministers, would attend the programme.
Hasina will arrive in Kolkata at 9 a.m on Friday and head to Santiniketan.
The Bangladesh Bhavan at Santiniketan would display books and photographs on the Bangladesh Liberation war, house a library, a state-of-the-art archival centre and a seminar hall, besides a sprawling space for cultural get-togethers.
On Saturday, Hasina would be awarded an honorary D.Litt by the Kazi Nazrul University in Asansol of West Burdwan district.
She would also visit Jorasanko Thakur Bari, where Tagore was born, and Netaji Bhavan, the ancestral house of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, in south Kolkata.
--IANS
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