When Teesta treaty loomed large on India-Bangla ties

NEWDELHI:Union home minister Rajnath Singh reached Dhaka on Friday for a three-day visit to hold wide-ranging talks with the Bangladesh government on issues including antiterror mechanisms and the Rohingya refugee crisis. Both countries have come a long way from 2011, when the Teesta water accord was caught in a diplomatic logjam. Bangladesh wanted the long-pending treaty to be signed, but the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government then in power had to contend with opposition from its ally, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

CONTEXT

In 2011, the UPA government was keen to meet the demand of Bangladesh, one of India’s best friends in South Asia. Bangladesh wanted a higher share of the Teesta water to feed its northern agrarian areas. Critics of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had begun calling the Teesta, which originates in Sikkim and flows into Bangladesh via West Bengal, as a reminder of the suffering inflicted by India on Bangladesh. The West Bengal government opposed the demand, and consensus on the issue remained elusive. The water treaty never threatened to jeopardise the trusted relationship between the two neighbours, but it certainly became a thorn in the flesh of India’s diplomatic endeavour towards Bangladesh. In the neighbouring country, it even looked like an election plank against Hasina.