THOSE who think Mamata Banerjee was in Delhi for two days (18–19th Sept) to push PM Narendra Modi to get a name change for West Bengal are way off the mark.
That is the story she sold but that possibly concealed a much bigger development.
■ West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee meets Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi | PIB
After weeks of sustained pressure on Mamata government with the CBI all set to arrest former Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar, it was natural that many in BJP would interpret Mamata’s Delhi visit as a ‘surrender to save her government’.
But there is a bigger issue — Modi seems to have used this pressure to wilt down Mamata’s opposition to Teesta water sharing agreement
They have a point but there is a bigger issue — Modi seems to have used this pressure to wilt down Mamata’s opposition to Teesta water sharing agreement.
Part of the deal is to ease off on Saradha which could not suck in half of Mamata’s ministers but also BJP topshots Mukul Roy and Assam’s Himanta Biswa Sarma
So why not use the scam to bring Mamata to agree to Teesta and them drop it ?
#AwamiLeague Gen-Sec @obaidulquader has expressed firm optimism that there will be progress on sharing #Teesta water and other unresolved bilateral issues with #India during the upcoming tenure of Indian Prime Minister @narendramodi https://t.co/OUHOQkNNVO @PMOIndia @BJP4India
— Awami League (@albd1971) May 26, 2019
Modi has bigger foreign policy stake in retaining Bangladesh within the Indian sphere of influence so that our very friendly eastern neighbour does not gravitate towards China.
A deal on Teesta will boost Hasina’s image and take the heat away from NRC exercise in Assam which had upset Dhaka so much that foreign minister S Jaishanker had to be rushed there to assuage ruffled feathers
A sweetener for Mamata could lay in huge central funds for doing canals linking Torsha and other North Bengal rivers to Teesta to augment water flow in it so that Bangladesh and West Bengal can get a decent share.
That means money for oiling her party machine ahead of state polls still two years away — much as central largesse for resettling enclave dwellers ahead of the last polls.
A sweetener for Mamata could lay in huge central funds for doing canals linking Torsha and other North Bengal rivers to Teesta to augment water flow in it so that Bangladesh and West Bengal can get a decent share
And with the BJP in thick soup in Assam over NRC after more Hindus than Muslims were excluded from the final list, an assurance to ‘Didi’ that no NRC will happen in West Bengal until the Assam mess is sorted out would have gone a long way to please Didi.
| ALSO READ | No Change In Teesta Deal | India Assure Bangladesh
BJP state leaders like Dilip Ghose may wake up to a new equation — Didi may indeed save her government and Modi may get to win over Bangladesh, which may otherwise tilt towards China. ■
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