Veteran journalist Abhijit unveils 1971 Photo Book ahead of Modi's visit

Ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit, veteran Kolkata journalist Abhijit Dasgupta has launched a "Photo Book" containing over 150 rare photographs of Bangladesh's Liberation War in 1971.

The launching ceremony was held at Kolkata Press Club with the title "Through My Eyes: The Birth of Bangladesh."

Prime Minister's International Affairs Adviser Dr Gowher Rizvi and Law Minister Anisul Huq's remarks were also published in the "Photo Book".

The photos he shot during his ten forays into Bangladesh in company of the Bengali freedom fighters then battling Pakistan army.

He worked for Statesman at that time and most of his pictures shot inside East Pakistan or on the borders went out to the world through the Gamma Presse Images, the world leading photo agency at that time.

"My family roots are in Dhaka , the Pakistanis were killing my Bengali people, so the risk of entering a foreign territory engulfed in civil war was worth the while," Abhijit told media in Kolkata.

He said if a picture says a thousand words, he must have contributed his bit to arouse global public opinion about the genocide unfolding in East Pakistan.

The book contains pictures broadly of three kinds -- the massacres and devastation, the armed struggle and guerilla operations and both the refugee camps and post liberation Dhaka with rare pictures of the family members of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Bangabandhu's son Sheikh Kamal was his personal friend. "He was around my age and we hit it off very well. He was a vibrant personality and mostly took me around," Abhijit said.

With tears in his eyes as he recalled the death of Kamal and his wife with most members of the family in the August 1975 coup, according to Indian media.

Abhijit said it was a rediscovery of his own people, his roots and ethos.

Bangladesh's phenomenal economic progress made over the past decades and human development does not surprise Abhijit.

He thinks Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has provided the same push and determination to take her country forward in continuation of her father's dream of building Sonar Bangla.

"Mujib's famous 'dabaye rakte parbana'( we can't be put down) permeates Hasina's infectious leadership style that has taken Bangladesh past Pakistan - and in some cases India -- in economic growth and human development in the 2010-2020 Golden Decade," said Abhijit.