Dhaka objects, but why the splash in Bangladesh’s troubled waters does not hurt Mamata Banerjee

The post by the Raj Bhavan came soon after Bangladesh Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud Mahmud, in a video shared widely on X, said Dhaka had “sent a note to the Indian government” on the TMC chief’s statement, adding: “With all due respect to Mamata Banerjee, with whom we share a relationship of mutual interests… her statement has created confusion and has the potential to create confusion among people.”

BJP IT cell leader Amit Malviya too took up Hasan’s remarks, posting: “Mamata Banerjee is a constant source of embarrassment, not just for West Bengal but also for India now.”

Speaking at the Martyrs’ Day rally in Kolkata Sunday, Mamata had said: “I won’t comment on Bangladesh. Whatever there is to say, the Indian government will say. But if helpless people knock on Bengal’s doors, we will give them shelter… Earlier, people facing problems in Assam too had taken shelter in Bengal.”

While she went on to caution against politics on the issue, suggesting that her offer was made out of “compassion and sympathy for anyone whose blood is shed”, she stirred precisely the same – not a surprise given that the BJP and TMC have often crossed swords over the issue of Bangladesh.

Mamata has opposed the Modi government’s Citizenship (Amendment) Act that offers easy citizenship to refugees belonging to minority communities from neighbouring countries, including Bangladesh, as discriminatory towards Muslims. Bengal has a large number of Bangladeshi refugees, with the BJP targeting the Hindu Matuas among them with its CAA overture, and Mamata seen as speaking to her Muslim vote bank.

The Mamata government has also pushed back against agreements on Teesta river waters signed by Delhi with Dhaka. During the UPA government’s term, her government had caused a diplomatic embarrassment for Delhi when her opposition to the treaty had resulted in PM Manmohan Singh being unable to seal a deal with Sheikh Hasina during a trip to Bangladesh in 2011.

Before that, while in Opposition, one of the TMC’s main lines of attacks against the CPI(M)-led Left Front government in Bengal was that it was “facilitating” infiltration from Bangladesh to boost its vote bank. Now that she is the CM, the BJP accuses her of pandering to “Muslim interests”.

If the TMC chief has still chosen to enter Bangladesh’s troubled waters, it is because she realises the lingering fraternal sentiment towards the eastern part of what was one region before Partition.

Over the past few days, Kolkata has seen two large protest marches over the Bangladesh violence. While one was called by the Leftist youth outfit All India Democratic Students Organisation, the other was by students of the Muslim-majority Aliah University protesting against the Bangladesh government’s actions.

A senior TMC leader said, “Mamata Banerjee realises that the sentiment of Bengal’s youth is with Bangladesh’s students (who are leading the protests).”

In his reaction, Malviya, who is also the BJP’s co-observer for West Bengal, underlined this common – but “separate” – history. “Millions of revolutionaries have sacrificed their blood to secure a homeland for Hindu Bengalis,” he said. Calling Mamata’s language “seditious”, Malviya added: “Her dream of becoming Suhrawardy 2.0 will remain a dream.” (Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy was one of the pioneers of the Bangladesh liberation movement.)

Leader of the Opposition, and Mamata’s bete noire, Suvendu Adhikari seconded Malviya’s comments that foreign affairs did not fall in the domain of a state government.

Long history

Incidentally, while she was an Opposition leader in Bengal, Mamata had been one of the leading voices against “infiltration from Bangladesh”, using this to target the Left Front government in the state.

In August 2005, then an MP, she had called the alleged infiltration “a disaster” and claimed that Bangladeshi nationals had managed to get themselves enrolled in the voters’ list, suggesting that the ruling CPI(M) was facilitating the same to boost its vote bank.

When Mamata’s motion to discuss “the serious matter” in Parliament was turned down by then Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who had been elected on the CPI(M) ticket, the TMC chief accused him of bias. Hurling a sheaf of papers at Chatterjee’s deputy Charanjit Singh Atwal, who was presiding over the House at that moment, she announced that she was resigning as an MP. Chatterjee later said that the resignation could not be accepted as it was “not submitted in a proper form”.

Since she became CM in 2011, Mamata has raised her objection every time the Centre has moved with Dhaka to discuss the Teesta Water-Sharing Agreement, and the renewal of the Farakka Barrage Treaty.

Only last week, after a meeting between PM Modi and Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina, Mamata wrote to Modi expressing “deep anguish” over the state being “kept out of the ongoing talks with Dhaka” over the aforementioned treaties.

She wrote, “Water flow in the Teesta has gone down over the years. It is estimated that if any more water is shared with Bangladesh, lakhs of people in North Bengal will get severely impacted due to inadequate availability of irrigation and drinking water. It is therefore not feasible to share Teesta water with Bangladesh.”

A senior TMC leader said there was no contradiction between her positions. “Mamata Banerjee has always been sensitive on the issue of Bangladesh. That’s why she commented on the current events there spontaneously. But she always keeps West Bengal’s needs in mind, so she opposes the Teesta treaty.”

Naushad Siddiqui, the lone MLA of the Indian Secular Front (ISF), a staunch critic of the TMC, said: “When Muslims weren’t Mamata Banerjee’s vote bank, they were ghuspetia (infiltrators) for her. She doesn’t use that term any more. In future, if Muslims again refuse to vote for her, they will again become ‘illegals’.”