Dhaka/New Delhi: Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s proposed visit to India this month remains on the table despite Dhaka saying the talks had been “vitiated” by former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s press conference in Delhi, with Indian high commissioner Dinesh Trivedi saying on Tuesday (August 18) that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had assured him that Rahman would receive an “honourable reception” in India.Trivedi said Modi gave him that assurance when the two met in New Delhi on August 11, a day after the high commissioner called on Rahman in Dhaka. “He just mentioned one thing. We need to meet,” Trivedi quoted Modi as telling him.Speaking at a reception hosted by the Indian high commission for Bangladeshi business leaders and a visiting delegation of the Confederation of Indian Industry, Trivedi said Modi had asked him to convey to Rahman that when he visits India, “he will have such an honourable reception as he deserves, as any such prime minister would deserve”.“And it would be a memorable visit,” he added.The remarks come two days after Bangladesh’s foreign ministry said the process of arranging Rahman’s visit had been “vitiated” by Hasina’s August 5 interaction with journalists from New Delhi and that a “propitious environment” needed to be created before the trip.Dhaka’s statement, however, stopped short of saying that Rahman would not visit India. The prime minister’s press secretary Saleh Shibli said on Monday night that Bangladesh was awaiting New Delhi’s response to the concerns it had raised and that the government had “not said that the prime minister is not going”.Bangladeshi media reported that Dhaka was awaiting an Indian response on creating the suitable optics for the visit, which will be politically sensitive for Rahman due to prevalent anti-India sentiment and criticism from opposition parties.At the Ministry of External Affairs’ weekly briefing on Tuesday, spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India wanted “positive, constructive and forward-looking relations” with Bangladesh based on “mutuality of interests and reciprocity”.“Our position on the press conference by the former PM needs no repetition,” Jaiswal said, referring to Hasina’s August 5 press interaction. On Dhaka’s extradition requests, he reiterated that India’s “consistent position” was that they were “being examined as part of our established processes”.On August 7, Jaiswal had said the interaction was organised by “a private media entity” and that the Indian government had “no involvement whatsoever”. He also said India did not endorse remarks made at the forum against Bangladesh’s “duly constituted government”.Trivedi also used his remarks at the business reception to make a broader case for moving ahead with the relationship despite the differences.“There are issues. There is no doubt about it,” he said. “But these concerns can only be mitigated once you meet. And the most important thing as far as I am concerned, [is] that we need to meet.”He acknowledged that Bangladesh had concerns about its relationship with India, but said the two countries need to address them through engagement.“We deeply understand the concerns of brothers and sisters of Bangladesh. Definitely there are concerns. But this is a partnership of equals,” he said.Trivedi also urged the two sides not to allow disputes from the past to hold up the relationship.“I am not telling that you forget the past. But keep the past and sort out the difference of the past. But move on. Don’t get stagnant [sic],” he said.The proposed visit has been under discussion for several weeks, with diplomatic sources previously indicating August 21-23 as the earliest possible window. Bangladeshi media reported that Dhaka and New Delhi had been considering dates between August 20 and 25.India had first issued an invitation to Rahman for a bilateral visit through Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla, who had attended his swearing-in ceremony in February.Later, New Delhi extended a separate invitation to Rahman for an outreach session at the BRICS summit that will be held on September 12-13. As The Wire reported earlier, the discussions were however aiming for a bilateral visit rather than for the BRICS summit, so that the substantive agenda, which includes renewing the Ganga waters treaty, trade restrictions and fuel supply, could be resolved.