Trust me

Visiting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee yesterday said Bangladesh need not worry about the eesta water-sharing deal, and promised to resolve the longstanding problem through discussions with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“Have trust in me. I will discuss it with Prime Minister Hasina. Leave it to us. Don't worry about it,” she told a luncheon with eminent cultural personalities at a city hotel.

“We have some problems [regarding Teesta deal] and so do you. But we will resolve it through talks with Sheikh Hasina,” said Mamata, who came to Dhaka on Thursday night on a three-day visit at the invitation of Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali.

The Teesta deal was expected to be signed during former Indian PM Manmohan Singh's Dhaka visit in 2011.  Both sides reportedly agreed to a 50-50 share of the water of the river that originates in the Indian state of Sikkim and runs through West Bengal before entering Bangladesh.

But it fell through due to strong opposition from Mamata, who said the sharing formula accepted by the Indian central government harmed her state's interest. She went on to pull out of Manmohan's entourage at the last moment, much to the Indian premier's embarrassment. 

However, things seem to have changed much regarding the deal after Narendra Modi's BJP came to power last year. 

At the luncheon yesterday, Mamata, also president of Trinamool Congress, said there had been some misunderstanding between India and Bangladesh in the past as “many people played many games”.

“But we don't want to play any game now,” she said.

She added she had to cancel her visit to Bangladesh four years ago due to some reasons at the last moment, and this time too she had fears there might be obstacles ahead of her visit.

 “Now that I have come here overcoming all obstacles, all hurdles will go away … ,” she said. “No one will now be able to keep divisions among us -- the two Bengals. What has started today [yesterday] through the cultural programme is a new beginning. ”

The chief minister said the dispute over the Land Boundary Agreement had already been solved and a bill in this regard awaited the Indian parliament's approval. “If the Land Boundary Agreement is done, we will have accomplished something big.”

She said, “We are a family. There may be political and geographical boundaries between the two Bengals, but there is no boundary between our minds, cultures, languages, thoughts, poems and songs.”

Calling on the litterateurs and cultural figures of Bangladesh to share their expectations with her, Mamata said she would respond to them in time.

She proposed a series of steps to cement the cultural bond between her state and Bangladesh, including the construction of "Bangabandhu Bhaban", a building to be named after Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

“We want to set a chair after Bangabandhu's name at Kolkata University.”

She said West Bengal and Dhaka could make films jointly and requested Bangladesh to organise the country's film festival in Kolkata next time.

“We want to organise joint cultural festivals through which cultural exchanges will increase significantly,” she said, adding that her government would donate 500 books to the central library here.

Mentioning that her state government has already set up a university named after Kazi Nazrul Islam, Bangladesh's national poet, Mamata said construction of an airport after the poet's name was underway and was expected to be completed by March.

“Our friendship is multi-dimensional and based on love, culture and language.”

Describing the Bengal as the cultural capital of the world, she said: “We are not weak. We are powerful. We can do many things together.”

The chief minister paid rich tributes to the language martyrs, including Salam, Barkat, Rafique and Jabbar, who sacrificed their lives for the mother tongue.

 She termed it a historic day for her and hoped India-Bangladesh relations would reach a new height, for which she would “work as a bridge”.

“It's a day of pride for me as I have been invited on this special day -- the International Mother Language Day -- to be in Dhaka.”

She ended her speech by saying “Joy Bangla” and then “Assalamualaikum”.

Mamata also came out of the dais and called singers Runa Laila, Sabina Yasmin and Indranil Sen, among others, to join her to sing the national anthems of Bangladesh and India in chorus amid cheers from the guests.

Cultural Minister Asaduzzaman Noor told Mamata that her visit would add a new dimension to the bilateral relations between the two countries. He expressed deep gratitude to the people of India, especially those of West Bengal, for their heartiest cooperation during the 1971 Liberation War.

“Ours is a bond of blood and it will never sever,” he said.

Eminent personalities, including Prof Anisuzzaman, Aly Zaker, Abul Khair, Ramendu Majumder, Nasiruddin Yousuff and Fakir Alamgir, spoke at the programme moderated by Pankaj Saran, the Indian high commissioner in Dhaka.    

Visiting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee talks to President Abdul Hamid at Bangabhaban in the capital yesterday. Mamata is on a three-day visit to Bangladesh. Photo: PID

Later in the day, Mamata called on President Abdul Hamid at the Bangabhaban, visited Bangabandhu Memorial Museum and attended a reception hosted by Pankaj Saran.

Along with her delegation, she paid tributes to the language martyrs by placing a wreath at the Central Shaheed Minar around 12:07am today.

She then exchanged pleasantries with the prime minister, who paid tributes to the language heroes before Mamata. 

Today the West Bengal chief minister will meet Hasina, attend a meeting with business leaders and then a high tea with the Bangladesh foreign minister.

She is scheduled to fly to Kolkata at 8:00pm.

Mamata is accompanied by 39 people, mostly from her state's cultural fraternity. Among them are actor and Ghatal MP Deepak Adhikari Dev, filmmaker Arindam Sil, singer Nachiketa, singer-politician Indranil Sen, actress Moon Moon Sen MP and poet Subodh Sarkar.