From CK Nayak
NEW DELHI, June 11: June is the month of mangoes known as the King of fruits, and like every year in recent past, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has sent mangoes as a gift to the Chief Ministers of the Northeastern states of India including Meghalaya and Assam fostering stronger relationships between the two neighbouring countries.
The 3,000 kg of mangoes packed in 600 boxes were handed over to the officials of the Assistant High Commission of Bangladesh at Guwahati on Saturday. Amaljoti Barua, administrative officer of the High Commission of Bangladesh and other officers received the mangoes.
Every year, Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina sends mangoes to Northeast India. In fact, during the COVID-19 pandemic period, Hasina has scored over Pakistan when other countries accepted her mangoes as gift but rejected the same from Pakistan sent by the then Prime Minister, Imran Khan.
Hasina’s gesture is widely appreciated in Northeast and West Bengal which share a long border with Bangladesh. Incidentally, mango is the national fruit of India and Pakistan, and mango tree is the national tree of Bangladesh.
But very few know mango was popularised in China as a gift by none other than revolutionary leader Mao Zedong which gave rise to mango diplomacy decades later. Mao had thanked some workers during the chaotic Cultural Revolution with mangoes, a gift of which he had been given the previous day by Pakistan’s then Foreign Minister.
Mango is believed to have originated in southern Asia, particularly in eastern India, Bangladesh, and the Andaman Islands. In 2020, world production of mangoes was 55 million tonnes, led by India with 45% of the total production followed by Indonesia.
