By Ashis Biswas
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s continuing silence on the Teesta water sharing issue has left Dhaka-based observers puzzled and wary. If media reactions are any indication, influential circles in Bangladesh are not convinced that an early Indo-Bangla agreement on the water sharing issue is likely, following her long awaited visit. They suggest that Ms Banerjee had softened her earlier hard stance on the Teesta waters because of her own rapidly weakening position both in West Bengal and in India’s national politics. Their assessment: the Trinamool leader’s trip was high on symbols, low on substance.
Bangladesh political circles are clearly abreast of major developments in India and West Bengal .What had contributed to her decline in their analysis were the Sarada chit fund scam, the Burdwan bomb blast involving Islamic radicals and the victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. In particular, the BJP’s victory had been a ‘major setback for the Trinamool Congress’, according to one publication.
Most English and Bengali papers in Bangladesh have welcomed Ms Banerjee’s proposals for increased trade and cultural relations between the two parts of Bengal. There was also appreciation of her proposal to create a special Calcutta University Chair to honour Bangladesh’s founder late Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and to build a house in his memory in Kolkata. But commentators made it clear that she did not address the most critical item on the agenda as far as Bangladesh was concerned — her position on the proposed water sharing. As Mohammad Ali Arafat, who heads the Institute of Conflict, Law and Development Studies, a think tank put it, ‘But everyone’s focus will be on whether the West Bengal Chief Minister says anything positive about the river Teesta (waters for Bangladesh).’
Reporting his views, a prominent English website notes that,’ The (Bangladesh) Government deliberately played down the possibility of any breakthrough (on the question of water sharing).’ Another commentator noted that in the past Ms Banerjee had displayed an ability to ‘throw a spanner in bilateral relations’, referring to her opposition to sign a treaty on the issue during the UPA II regime. He noted that her last minute cancellation of a proposed trip to Bangladesh had deeply embarrassed then Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and hurt the Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina in her pre-election campaign. The analyst Mr, Mahmoo Hasan is a former Bangladeshi diplomat. His conclusion: Ms Banerjee’s Dhaka visit has been a Public Relations exercise to prop up her sagging image in West Bengal and major progress on the Teesta water sharing would not occur anytime soon.
The Teesta is only one of the 54 rivers that run through both India and Bangladesh, with the latter being the lower riparian country. As such Dhaka has a legitimate claim on the waters of these rivers. In principle, Bangladesh sees nothing objectionable about Ms Banerjee’s determined stand that West Bengal’s interest must not suffer. However, there is equally no doubt that the flow of waters from West Bengal has weakened very much of late at Kurigram in Bangladesh, which adds to Dhaka’s concern. Bangladesh has ambitious plans to irrigate around 7,11,000 hectares of land in its northern areas, while West Bengal plans to irrigate over 8,00,000 hectares.
Dhaka-based experts also question whether there will be enough water to share between India and their country, seeing that the Teesta waters are being used for 12 hydel power projects carried out in Sikkim! As a mutually acceptable solution, it has been proposed that both countries set up reservoirs for storing the excess water that floods the Teesta regularly every monsoon. The stored water could be used for irrigation purposes later.
On its part, Bangladesh went beyond normal protocol in welcoming Ms Banerjee to make her feel at home. The security cover she received exceeded the level accorded to Chinese leaders who visited Bangladesh recently. Dhaka was also happy that presumably on expert advice, Ms Banerjee did not bring along the controversial Rajya sabha MP from West Bengal Hasan Imran, accused of Jamat-e-Islami links, in her large entourage.
In addition, Bangladesh authorities, according to Bengal BJP President Rahul Sinha, did not allow over 5000 people to show Ms Banerjee blacks flags in protest against her alleged support to Islamic fundamentalists in West Bengal. Bangladesh media says that Ms Banerjee herself raised the Teesta issue during her talks with Prime Minister Hasina. She urged Mrs Hasina to have ‘trust’ in her and assured her that an equitable solution for both countries would be worked out soon.
On her part, Mrs Hasina too, played according to diplomatic rules, by not reacting too warmly to Ms Banerjee’s request for more ‘hilsa’ fish from Bangladesh. “Let the water come, the fish would follow automatically,’ she quipped. Presumably her bitter experience over the river sharing question during the UPA II tenure in India had made Mrs Hasina more cautious than ever in her dealings with Ms Banerjee. (IPA Service)