Asim Kumar Mitra
IT seems that both Bangladesh and Indian governments are in a hurry to formalize the Teesta river pact for water sharing. It was Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, who went against government of India over this issue as it would seriously injure the interest of rural Bengal so far as supply of water to its agricultural fields is concerned. Water supplies from Teesta over the years have become so limited that it could not meet the demand of the land. Even sufficient supply from irrigation is not available. This is a serious problem for West Bengal. Mamata would ill afford to ignore this problem.
But the other points, in this regard, are also very important. The stranglehold of fundamental Islamic power is so strong in Bangladesh that the Hasina government is under great pressure as to which policy it should adopt. Although Bangladesh is a declared Islamic state, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed wants to run the administration more or less, on a secular basis as they do not want to be deprived of Indian economic and commercial help and assistance.
On the other hand India wants that their hegemony over Bangladesh should be there, without which the security of Indian international borders will be at stake. Hence they do not want to take any risk in this regard. But at the same time Mamata asks a very pertinent question as to whether Indian government wants starvation in a vast area of West Bengal by conceding Teesta water to Bangladesh for the sake of continuing hegemony over them just to assure security on international borders? Mamata is really in a fix about her future action on this count.
Last week, Putul, daughter of Sheikh Hasina, visited New Delhi and met Sonia Gandhi, Chairperson of UPA 2 and Pranab Kumar Mukherjee, President of India. Both of them assured Putul that by the middle of this year Teesta water sharing pact is going to be signed by the Manmohan Singh government. Before that on 15th of February, 2013 our External Affairs Minister would go to Bangladesh on a two-day tour programme. Then in the month of March, President Pranab Mukherjee would visit Bangladesh. Indian foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai had already visited Dhaka. With all these, Indian government wanted to give Bangladesh an impression that they are sincere enough to furnish this pact.
According to Indian law, for furnishing Teesta Pact, approval of West Bengal government is not mandatory. But as we are in democracy, its norms demand this courtesy. Hence a spokesman of our foreign ministry said that while furnishing Ganges Water Pact the sharing of water was kept pending and it was settled after the pact was signed. He said the same procedure could be followed here also.
There are three reasons for this willingness of both India and Bangladesh government to hurry up the Teesta Pact. One, Bangladesh is going to general election before this year end. Two, India is also going for its Lok Sabha election in the early next year.
But the third reason is most important as the hyper active Chinese government is all out to escalate their hegemony over Bangladesh. Keeping this in mind, they have adopted both overt and covert procedures. China has already participated in many developmental work of Bangladesh. But they could not grab the contract of building a bridge on the river Meghna. This particular contract has gone to Japan. Nevertheless, Chinese are very active in other fields. Few days back a confidential report has quoted saying at least eight ministers including foreign minister Dipu Mani in the Sheikh Hasina cabinet are on the payroll of Chinese government. Of late Chinese restaurant and Chinese food have become very much popular not only in the capital city of Dhaka but in other important cities as well. Islamic fundamentalist forces are very close to Chinese activists in Bangladesh. This is another mole on the face of Bangladesh politics.
Till today, Bangladesh government is more nearer to American government than any other government. Naturally they do not lose their hegemony over Bangladesh. They have got a long term in their mind and in that process they have taken India by their side. India for their own reason of defending and securing the international borders and America for keeping world power balance intact, are moving hand in hand in Bangladesh.
Perhaps this greater perspective of international politics has compelled India to take such a pro-active role in the matter of Teesta Pact.
