by Somnath Mukherjee
The editorial today in the Indian Express captures some element of the damage to India’s relations with Bangladesh caused by Mamata Bannerjee’s caper over the Teesta river treaty. What it leaves unsaid is the severe damage to India’s neighbourhood outreach strategy in general this has done.
Its somewhat ironic that Indian governments have been far more capable of defying local political opposition for key foreign policy initiatives farther ashore than for those concerning our immediate neighbours. Succcessive governments, both Congress and BJP, defied opposition in Kerala to the FTA with Thailand. On the other hand, India’s Sri Lanka policy has been held hostage to Tamil Nadu politics for the last two decades.
Manmohan Singh made his policy on South Asia a lynchpin of his foreign policy paradigm. No other leg of the initiative got as much of a “leg up” as Bangladesh when Sheikh Hasina came to power. The new outreach of the Bangladeshi government to India came as a welcome ballast to Indian efforts to build a new cooperative architecture with Bangladesh. Bangladesh shed years of a “sulking neighbour” attitude to openly embrace a new relationship, starting with the rounding up of North Eastern insurgents enjoying sanctuary there. India reciprocated, first during the BDR revolt, and then again during the attempted coup of retired and serving Army officers against the Hasina government.
But the big idea is still missing. Congress’s weakness at the Centre and Mamata Bannerjee’s attempt to carve out a different (regional) niche for herself has made the big idea of Bangladesh policy hostage to West Bengal politics.
Given the state of Centre’s influence over allies and policymaking currently, one can only hope that better wisdom dawns upon Mamata and this doesnt become an encore of India’s Sri Lanka policy and enable China to deepen its access and influence in this important neighbour of India.
mb in wb has not the wits to govern or care for national interests
her politics is demagoguery without substance with lots of photo ops and her popularity is due to:
- wb’s perceptions as being neglected by the federal govt over the years, particularly in the lack of federal interest or actions to accommodate the refugees since partition that gave rise to the naxals, who were mostly from the partition refugee families who felt neglected and used
- the last left wb govt ran a a very vitriolic campaign against mb which turned many electors against them
- she convinced the wb electorate that she can very effectively pork barrel for her state as a federal minister when she dumped monies on wb railways to no good effect
however, many are beginning to question her political ideology, not only on her lack of performance in government but also her boohooing a rape victim as a political opponent because she dared to take it to court and won her case
at this rate, she would be a one term wonder that most bangalis would prefer to see her implode with no regrets