There is evidence to show that the state government has been remarkably inept in managing the bird flu crisis since the H591 virus was first detected on January 4. So when it is offered generous help by the government of another country to deal with it — in terms of medicines, technical support for surveillance and diagnosis, and personnel protection equipment for culling operations — there’s every reason for the besieged government to accept it. But if the concerned state is Left-led West Bengal and the offer of help has come from the US, this story acquires a political frisson. It also becomes a signal. So what does it mean when the US ambassador to India, David Mulford, expresses concern over the spread of the virus in West Bengal and offers US assistance so that it is “nipped in the bud”, and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee takes up the offer readily and graciously? It means that Bhattacharjee acknowledges that there can be sharing of information and best practices, and that governments can find spaces to work together and learn from each other — even if they disagree on the world order and the nuclear deal.This could be a revealing exchange. It wasn’t so long ago, after all, that Bhattacharjee and Mulford were locked in a very public swordplay. Back then, about two years ago, the script had played out in completely predictable ways when a remark by Bhattacharjee on US President George Bush provoked Mulford to dash off a letter of protest to the chief minister, who got incensed and called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene. The West Bengal CM had apparently called the US president the “leader of a gang of killers”; in his letter, the US ambassador warned of “serious repercussions” on his government’s perception of West Bengal. As it now appears, that moment is behind us, and thankfully so. Rote antagonisms have receding place in a world in which governments are presented with unpredictable challenges that require from them responses that are increasingly sophisticated as well as fleetfooted. Of course, it is still easier said than done. The aid from the US government to West Bengal must be routed through the Centre. Bureaucracy could well have the last word. But as West Bengal struggles to control the deadly outbreak before it spins out of control, it is possible to take a little heart from the fact that it will not stand on either knee-jerk ideology or false prestige.
