An unnecessary embarrassment.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Bangladesh would have been really effective if the controversy over the Teesta pact has not been raised by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who refused to join the team which went to Dhaka. She argued that the pact gave more water to Bangladesh than she had agreed. That would hurt the interest of North Bengal, she said. The UPA government did not wish to antagonise ally Trinamool with 19 MPs and put the pact on hold. The India-Bangladesh treaty has foundered. If it was signed, connectivity and prosperity in the region would have improved and bilateral relations strengthened.
There are more important issues on the agenda — transit access to the Northeast, facilitation of easy movement of goods and people, trade integration and investment flows. All this has been stymied by a disagreement over a few cusecs of water. Mamata Banerjee has once again shown her obsession with West Bengal and indifference to big picture diplomacy serving the national interest. The Centre has to explain why it had not sorted out differences over the Teesta waters much ahead of the Bangladesh visit.
Shillong Times, September 8
