Mamata volte-face on enclaves

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerji, known for her strident opposition to transfer of enclaves between India and Bangladesh, seems to be trying a somersault on the issue.

Samir Purkayastha, Kolkatabdnews24.com
Published : 13 April 2014, 08:22 AM
Updated : 13 April 2014, 11:47 AM

During rallies organised by her Trinamul Congress party at Dinhata and Coochbehar in the northern part of the state, where the enclaves are located, Banerji said she was "willing to allow the residents of the enclaves to take a call on the issue."

"I am willing to go by what you think it is better for you. I am against imposing anything from above. Your convenience is most important," she told a rally at Dinhata this weekend.

"We have done our surveys and we have our findings. But I am willing to let the residents of these enclaves decide what they want," she told another rally in Coochbehar.

In all, 162 enclaves straddle the India-Bangladesh border in Coochbehar, most of them around Dinhata.

Of these, 111 are Indian enclaves inside Bangladesh, 51 are Bangladesh enclaves in India.

The two countries signed an agreement for swapping them during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Dhaka in 2010.

The West Bengal administration seems to have told the Indian external affairs ministry before Singh's visit that it would not object to the swap of enclaves.

This was communicated to erstwhile Indian foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai by the-then West Bengal chief secretary Samar Ghosh in August 2011.

But Mamata Banerji turned around during the visit, refusing to accompany Singh as other chief ministers of Indian states bordering Bangladesh had done.

Subsequently, she opposed both the Teesta water sharing deal and the enclave exchange agreement.

When the Congress-led UPA government tried to introduce the bill to effect the exchange of the enclaves in Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of the Indian parliament, Trinamul MPs fiercely resisted it.

Mamata in her Facebook postings also said her government will never allow to swap to go through because it would mean a 'loss of few thousands acres of Indian territory' to Bangladesh.

So what makes for her change of heart now! Elections, probably.

For the 50,000 odd residents in these 162 enclaves, the proposed swap was welcomed.

Now with the ongoing polls to the parliament, Mamata Banerji seems to have realised her party will come a cropper in the enclaves because of her opposition to the swap.

"What a somersault! But can we really believe what she is saying ! We want the exchange to happen and we are upset with her opposition to it. Now if she changes her stand genuinely and stops opposing the swap, we will welcome her," says Diptiman Sengupta, general secretary of the 'Bharat-Bangladesh Chitmahal Binimoy Committee' (India-Bangladesh Committee for exchange of enclaves).

Another group representing the enclave residents -- Chitmahal United Council -- also expressed reservations but welcomed a 'change of heart' if that was true.

"If she is really changing line and will stop opposing the swap, we will welcome her. Better late than never," said Debabrata Chaki, advisor of the Council.

The Left, Congress and BJP have all lambasted Mamata Banerji for what she now says about the enclaves.

"She did all to impose her will on these hapless enclave residents. Now she changes her tune because she wants them to vote for her," said Deepa Das Munshi, a Congress MP from north Bengal ands a strident critic of Banerji.

"She has now remembered the enclaves when it is time for polling. Why is that so," says BJP candidate Hemendra Barman.

And Forward Bloc leader Udayan Guha clearly pins it down to polling.

"She knows now her stand is not acceptable to those who live in the enclaves. So she is just saying all this to influence their voting," says Guha.