Mamata Banerjee Questions West Bengal’s Exclusion in water-Sharing Talks with Bangladesh

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Sept 8: The West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday expressed strong displeasure at the centre for not keeping her in the loop during the prime minister Narendra Modi’s talks with his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina on the water-sharing issues between the two countries.

“For the first time I have seen that during discussions with Bangladesh, West Bengal has been kept out,” Ms Banerjee said addressing a party gathering in Kolkata. The Chief Minister emphasised that she maintains good relations with ‘Hasina ji’ and both the leaders exchange gifts during Durga Puja and Eid.

Ms Banerjee wondered aloud what the reasons for keeping her out of the discussions were and asked why the higher-ups in government at the Centre were angry with her. Among crucial bilateral issues pending between India and Bangladesh is the Teesta water-sharing treaty, which Ms Banerjee has publicly opposed.

Ms Banerjee said she was curious why the BJP-led central government was “worried” about her meeting Sheikh Hasina. “I don’t want to talk about external affairs or bilateral ties. But I have noticed that the Centre tries to stop me whenever I am invited to any foreign country. I want to know why the Union government is so worried about me meeting foreign dignitaries,” she remarked.

Banerjee also fumed at the centre for an “improper invitation” to attend the unveiling of Netaji Shubhash Chandra Bose statue at the India Gate by the prime minister on Thursday evening. Stating that she had refused to attend the ceremony and instead preferred to pay her tributes to the great warrior in Kolkata itself, Banerjee said he received a letter only on Wednesday evening from a bureaucrat informing her about today’s event.

“I got a letter yesterday from a undersecretary saying the PM will inaugurate the Netaji Statue at 7 PM and you must be there at 6 pm. As if I am their servant. How can an undersecretary write to a Chief Minister? Why has the culture minister become so big,” Banerjee asked. “That’s why I garlanded the Netaji statue here in the afternoon today to offer my respects,” she said. Modi will inaugurate a 28-ffot high statue near India Gate and a refurbished Central Vista with the Rajpath road renamed as “Kartavya Path.” The jet black granite statue of Netaji will be placed under the Grand Canopy to the east of India gate, halfway on the east-west axis to the National War Memorial.

Speaking to her party’s booth-level workers, the Trinamool Congress chairperson targeted the Centre on hosts of issues from delay in payment of MGNREGA workers and “misuse” of central agencies. The Chief Minister said she wanted the central agencies to be more aggressive because she is sure that in the end nothing will be proved against her party leaders in a court of law.

She believed that more the central agencies were misused by the centre on the political opponents more despicable the BJP would become for the people. “The BJP thinks they can threaten us with CBI and ED. The more they pursue such tricks, the more they will get closer to defeat in next year’s Panchayat election and 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” she said.

About the opposition unity, she claimed that in 2024 Parliamentary elections, the process will start from West Bengal. “Now we all are together. Nitish Kumar is there, Akhilesh Yadav is there, Hemant Soren is there, and I am there and our friends are there. We all will come together.  They are going around proudly with 275-300 seats, Rajiv Gandhi had 400 seats but could not hold onto it.  In these five States the BJP will lose 100 seats. So, tell me how they will form the government,” Ms Banerjee said.

The TMC chairperson alleged that Communist Party of India (Marxist) was hand and glove with the BJP and money was being paid to “a section of minorities so that they turn against us.” The Chief Minister also told party workers to maintain discipline, be careful of what they speak in public and said that they have been given the opportunity to work for the people and not for themselves.

Ms Banerjee along with TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee assured that upcoming panchayat elections will be peaceful in the State following which the party will prepare for 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Panchayat elections in the State are scheduled in 2023.