By Ashis Biswas
While the Trinamool Congress’s (TMC) major election victory in Bengal has been welcomed in Bangladesh, there is also an undercurrent of dismay. Judging by social media messaging, Bangladeshis fear that the Teesta River Water sharing project may not be implemented. And criticism on this score about the TMC has not been muted either. The official praise coming from Dhaka about Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee may be as effusive as before. But public sentiment as a whole towards her and the TMC is more nuanced, even somewhat different.
For Bangladesh Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen to congratulate the TMC for its win over the strong contender Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is par for the course. In a warm message, he praised the TMC’s remarkable hat-trick of poll victories, appreciating the CM’s efforts to ensure cordial relations with Bangladesh. She had upheld the deep rooted cultural and secular values among Bengalis, with her stress on maintaining communal harmony and peace. People of West Bengal had a special place in Bangladeshi hearts not least because of the similarity of language, culture and their shared experience, he stated.
Momen was confident that the ongoing Covid 19 pandemic would be handled effectively in both parts of Bengal and hoped for the early solution of some pending issues — a gentle reminder of Teesta-related niggles.
The TMC political campaign attracted keen interest in Bangladesh for many reasons. The tumultuous proceedings were covered in considerable detail. The defeat of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), significantly described as the ‘Hindu right wing party’, was seen as a major setback, especially as both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah had led a high voltage all out political campaign.
It must have been pleasing for Dhaka to observe TMC leaders repeatedly assert their Bengali roots through their controversial ‘Bohiragoto’ (anti outsider) salvo against national BJP leaders, not sparing even Modi or Shah. As a rule, cultural assertion comes naturally to most Bangladeshis, but there was an additional reason for Dhaka’s quiet satisfaction.
During its gruelling 2021 pre-election campaign, the TMC hijacked two Bangladeshi slogans /political catchwords in its anti-BJP tirade. First, it adopted late Sheikh Mujib’s stirring slogan ‘Joy Bangla’ which inspired thousands of Bengali youths to take up arms against the Pakistani regime and risk death in 1970-71.The TMC also made free use of another political slogan originating from Bangladesh, coined by an Awami league leader: ‘Khela hobe’ (Let the game begin.)
In West Bengal, TMC leaders wholly appropriated — misappropriated? — both slogans without making any attempt to ensure proper attribution of credit, at public meetings. In this they followed the none-too-noble approach of the Bengal Chief Minister, who merrily used the ‘Joy Bangla ’exhortation as her own without a single reference to its historic coiner! ‘Perhaps TMC people consider even the late Sheikh Mujib as a ‘Bohiragoto’!’ quipped a pro-BJP wag. As a gesture, this could not have made secular Bangladeshis happy in 2021, the year of Mujib’s birth centenary!
Bangladeshis settled in Kolkata often discuss such matters among themselves and with locals. A Bangladeshi student pointed out that even the TMC’s trademark rallying cry., ’Ma, Mati Manush’ (Mother, land and people in literal translation) was taken wholesale from a call given by Khaleda Zia, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader, years ago in Bangladesh.
However, this was contested by locals. They admitted that the 3Ms catchword too has been misappropriated without attribution. But the man denied due credit by the TMC was the late playwright Bhairab Ganguly. He had written a play entitled ‘Ma Mati Manush ‘that ran commercially in Kolkata for a long spell some years ago.
In short, the Bangladeshi cultural factor does significantly influence the political vocabulary/poll campaigning in West Bengal these days. There is nothing unusual in such cross fertilisation of new catch phrases or slogans. But prior to 2021, this was not the case. A major reason for revisiting/reviving Bangladeshi sayings and slogans could well be the TMC’s current insistence on stressing the Bengali identity in its campaign. According to the new TMC narrative, this was its response to an existential threat it was facing from the predominantly north Indian cum Gujarati party, the BJP.
And given the impressive dimensions of the TMC”s victory, this appeal to Bengali pride certainly did work among the electorate.
Some Bangladeshi papers carried comments from writers pointedly asking whether in her new tenure, Mamata Banerjee would treat the river water sharing issue with more sensitivity. They urged upon Bangladesh Government to renew its efforts to settle the long pending problem once and for all. A section of Bangladesh correspondents pointed out that in overlooking Mamata’s refusal to let water flow from India to Bangladesh from the international river Teesta downstream, India was guilty of violating established law and regulations arbitrarily. Mamata Banerjee had not bothered to answer former Bangladeshi Minister Dipu Moni when she had pointed this out to her (Banerjee) during a visit to Kolkata. They also resented GOI’s refusal/reluctance to ‘discipline’ a state Chief Minister who had been allowed to defy the Prime Minister of a sovereign Independent country like Bangladesh, which was unacceptable. Overall, Bangladesh press coverage suggested that post Bengal elections, people as well as political parties would adopt a wait-and-watch approach vis-s-vis bilateral relations/ties.Curiously enough, in one or two Bangladeshi papers, details of ‘deals’ worked out among BJP leaders and TMC leaders who joined them were also carried. Such reports showed the BJP in a negative light. Reports from Kolkata-based correspondents carried even financial and related details relating to leaders switching sides, which no Kolkata-based paper or TV channel had published. (IPA Service)