Dipu Monis Delhi trip: Even promises are fading
Foreign Minister (FM) Dipu Moni was in New Delhi late last month for a three day visit. She was invited by New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation for delivering a memorial lecture. However that was not the real reason for her Delhi visit. She had gone there to make a last ditch attempt to urge New Delhi to deliver two stalled deals, namely the Teesta Water Sharing Agreement and the ratification of the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) for exchange of enclaves and land in adverse possession that, if not delivered, could become embarrassing and damaging electoral issues for the ruling party in the next general elections due in January next.
On arrival in New Delhi, the Bangladesh Foreign Minister told newsmen: If this bill does not go through and if the Teesta water sharing deal is not signed, they will surely become important issues in the rundown to the parliament elections in my country. To pursue the two deals, she met the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohon Singh, the BJP Leader in Rajya Sabha Arun Jetley and the Minister of External Affairs Salman Khurshid. The meeting with Dr. Singh did not provide any result to make the Foreign Minister smile. The Indian PM reiterated New Delhis commitment to deliver both the deals without mentioning when it would take place. On the Teesta, he told Dipu Moni that the agreement on the Teesta notwithstanding, water was continuing to flow to Bangladesh unhindered; hardly encouraging news for the AL led Government! On delivery of the two deals, even the promises have become weaker.
If her meeting with Dr Manmohon Singh was disappointing; the one with Anup Jetley, the BJP leader in Rajya Sabha was disheartening. He informed Dipu Moni that his party understood Bangladeshs position but the BJP has its own policy on the issue based on which it would decide the ratification issue. BJP is strongly opposed to ceding any Indian territory, however small, to another country and the LBA, if ratified will give Bangladesh an additional 10,050.61 acres in the exchange. Further, the BJP believes that 20 million Bangladeshis are illegally staying in India. BJP wants this issue to be resolved before the LBA ratification can be discussed that makes the LBA deal most uncertain. Dipu Moni did not attempt to meet the mercurial Chief Minister of Paschim Bangla, Mamata Banarjee who holds the key to the Teesta deal. She could have easily made a trip to Kolkata to meet her either on way to Delhi or on way back. Dhaka still trusts New Delhi to convince Mamata Banarjee to agree to the deal.
What Dipu Moni was informed in New Delhi no doubt was bad news for the AL led government. Upon her return to Dhaka, she has however given a positive spin to her visit, stating that Indian leaders have reiterated their commitments to the deals and informed her that the process to do the needful are under way. She blamed the opposition for failure to bring the deals to the stage the AL led government has. Her spin appeared to be an afterthought to offset media reports in Bangladesh and India that concluded that the visit was futile and unsuccessful. Kolkatas Ananda Bazar Patrika has quoted the Foreign Minister as saying after her talks with the Indian leaders that if the deals are not signed, it will be very frustrating.
Hide and seek
There was a clear hint that she was resigned to fate because she did not hear anything from the Indian leaders to give her hope that New Delhi would deliver the deals for the Awami League to use it the forthcoming general elections. When journalists asked to comment on the outcome of the visit, an official of the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi smartly tried to hide its disappointing outcome. He said that as the Foreign Ministers visit was not official, there was no expectation at all from her visit.
Unfortunately, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was not as smart as the officer at the Bangladesh High Commission. In the build up to the visit, Bangladesh Foreign Ministry officials emphasized that the FM would be meeting the Indian Prime Minister, her Indian counterpart and leaders of the BJP to give the impression that her visit, its unofficial status notwithstanding, was intended to expedite and resolve the Teesta and the LBA deals. People were led to believe that the deals were moving towards resolution, only awaiting Dipu Monis visit for the final push. In fact, Foreign Ministry sources even did not care to tell the media what would be the subject of the Foreign Ministers memorial lecture so that focus remained on her real intention for undertaking the visit, to expedite the resolution of the two stalled deals.
The other smart thing that the Foreign Ministry didnt do was ask its High Commission in New Delhi and Deputy High Commission in Kolkata for status reports on whether BJP and Mamata Banarjee had changed their stance on the stalled issues and New Delhi was close to delivery. If it had, it would have saved the Foreign Minister from going to New Delhi on a wild goose chase. A status report from the High Commission would have informed the Foreign Minister that the BJPs position had hardened with national elections round the corner. A similar status report from the Deputy High Commission in Kolkata would have informed her that Mamata Banarjees stance had also hardened. Just before the FM went to New Delhi, Mamata had stated in Kolkata that for her, the interests of northern Paschim Bangla through which the Teesta flows to Bangladesh, was more important than doing Bangladesh a favour. Ominously, people there are against the Teesta deal. Furthermore, her conflict with the Congress over centre-province issues had intensified and with focus on the next elections, she was no longer in any mood to do the Congress a favour.
Full Report:
Holiday
Foreign Minister (FM) Dipu Moni was in New Delhi late last month for a three day visit. She was invited by New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation for delivering a memorial lecture. However that was not the real reason for her Delhi visit. She had gone there to make a last ditch attempt to urge New Delhi to deliver two stalled deals, namely the Teesta Water Sharing Agreement and the ratification of the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) for exchange of enclaves and land in adverse possession that, if not delivered, could become embarrassing and damaging electoral issues for the ruling party in the next general elections due in January next.
On arrival in New Delhi, the Bangladesh Foreign Minister told newsmen: If this bill does not go through and if the Teesta water sharing deal is not signed, they will surely become important issues in the rundown to the parliament elections in my country. To pursue the two deals, she met the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohon Singh, the BJP Leader in Rajya Sabha Arun Jetley and the Minister of External Affairs Salman Khurshid. The meeting with Dr. Singh did not provide any result to make the Foreign Minister smile. The Indian PM reiterated New Delhis commitment to deliver both the deals without mentioning when it would take place. On the Teesta, he told Dipu Moni that the agreement on the Teesta notwithstanding, water was continuing to flow to Bangladesh unhindered; hardly encouraging news for the AL led Government! On delivery of the two deals, even the promises have become weaker.
If her meeting with Dr Manmohon Singh was disappointing; the one with Anup Jetley, the BJP leader in Rajya Sabha was disheartening. He informed Dipu Moni that his party understood Bangladeshs position but the BJP has its own policy on the issue based on which it would decide the ratification issue. BJP is strongly opposed to ceding any Indian territory, however small, to another country and the LBA, if ratified will give Bangladesh an additional 10,050.61 acres in the exchange. Further, the BJP believes that 20 million Bangladeshis are illegally staying in India. BJP wants this issue to be resolved before the LBA ratification can be discussed that makes the LBA deal most uncertain. Dipu Moni did not attempt to meet the mercurial Chief Minister of Paschim Bangla, Mamata Banarjee who holds the key to the Teesta deal. She could have easily made a trip to Kolkata to meet her either on way to Delhi or on way back. Dhaka still trusts New Delhi to convince Mamata Banarjee to agree to the deal.
What Dipu Moni was informed in New Delhi no doubt was bad news for the AL led government. Upon her return to Dhaka, she has however given a positive spin to her visit, stating that Indian leaders have reiterated their commitments to the deals and informed her that the process to do the needful are under way. She blamed the opposition for failure to bring the deals to the stage the AL led government has. Her spin appeared to be an afterthought to offset media reports in Bangladesh and India that concluded that the visit was futile and unsuccessful. Kolkatas Ananda Bazar Patrika has quoted the Foreign Minister as saying after her talks with the Indian leaders that if the deals are not signed, it will be very frustrating.
Hide and seek
There was a clear hint that she was resigned to fate because she did not hear anything from the Indian leaders to give her hope that New Delhi would deliver the deals for the Awami League to use it the forthcoming general elections. When journalists asked to comment on the outcome of the visit, an official of the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi smartly tried to hide its disappointing outcome. He said that as the Foreign Ministers visit was not official, there was no expectation at all from her visit.
Unfortunately, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was not as smart as the officer at the Bangladesh High Commission. In the build up to the visit, Bangladesh Foreign Ministry officials emphasized that the FM would be meeting the Indian Prime Minister, her Indian counterpart and leaders of the BJP to give the impression that her visit, its unofficial status notwithstanding, was intended to expedite and resolve the Teesta and the LBA deals. People were led to believe that the deals were moving towards resolution, only awaiting Dipu Monis visit for the final push. In fact, Foreign Ministry sources even did not care to tell the media what would be the subject of the Foreign Ministers memorial lecture so that focus remained on her real intention for undertaking the visit, to expedite the resolution of the two stalled deals.
The other smart thing that the Foreign Ministry didnt do was ask its High Commission in New Delhi and Deputy High Commission in Kolkata for status reports on whether BJP and Mamata Banarjee had changed their stance on the stalled issues and New Delhi was close to delivery. If it had, it would have saved the Foreign Minister from going to New Delhi on a wild goose chase. A status report from the High Commission would have informed the Foreign Minister that the BJPs position had hardened with national elections round the corner. A similar status report from the Deputy High Commission in Kolkata would have informed her that Mamata Banarjees stance had also hardened. Just before the FM went to New Delhi, Mamata had stated in Kolkata that for her, the interests of northern Paschim Bangla through which the Teesta flows to Bangladesh, was more important than doing Bangladesh a favour. Ominously, people there are against the Teesta deal. Furthermore, her conflict with the Congress over centre-province issues had intensified and with focus on the next elections, she was no longer in any mood to do the Congress a favour.
Full Report:
Holiday
