Half an hour before his meeting with the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at 3.15 pm Bangladesh time, in Dhaka.
While officials of the Prime Minister’s delegation call the meeting of a Chief Minister with the Prime Minister in another country “unprecedented”, they have an explanation.
“They [Mr. Modi and Ms. Banerjee] are staying in separate hotels and it appears odd if they go to the Prime Minister’s [Sheikh Hasina] programme separately. So they will meet here [Sonargaon Hotel] and leave for the flagging off [of the bus service] together,” the official said.
However, the room where Mr. Modi and Ms. Banerjee met for about 20 minutes tells a different story. The formally designed hall — Surma, in Sonargaon Hotel — seems intended to host heads of state.
But the process of getting Ms Banerjee to be part of the process of improving ties with Bangladesh, specifically on sharing river waters, was not easy. “The process started in last December and the Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Pankaj Saran played a crucial role,” a senior Indian official said. Experts agree that the difference between the UPA government and the Modi government in dealing with Ms. Banerjee has witnessed a dramatic change with the Chief Minister now treated with care and respect.
“From day one this (BJP) government knew that one cannot deal (directly) with Bangladesh, bypassing Ms Banerjee,” a retired Bangladeshi diplomat told The Hindu .
Saradha impactThe Saradha scam nearly proved Ms Banerjee’s undoing as many members of her inner circle were arrested. When her second-in-command Mukul Roy was summoned by the CBI, Ms. Banerjee realised she needed to talk to Mr. Modi directly. “Internally, she backed many bills in the Parliament and externally backed project Bangladesh of Mr. Modi,” the retired diplomat said.
