Kolkata: When two Bengali women meet, what do they talk about? Fish, certainly. And no ordinary fish, mind you, but the king of it all: the ilish in Bengali, hilsa in English.
So, joked Mamata Banerjee with Sheikh Hasina : “We are not getting enough ilish in Kolkata from Bangladesh.” The Bangladeshi hilsa is the most coveted of all.
Sheikh Hasina’s repartee: The more water there is in the river, the more fish there will be.
Thus went the conversation between Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and West Bengal Chief Minister in Dhaka today, on the most contentious issue of the sharing of the Teesta river’s waters between the two countries.
The Teesta flows through north Bengal into Bangladesh. Mamata Banerjee had opposed a pact that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had wanted to sign. Her grouse: the pact would hurt north Bengal. That was in September 2011. Ever since, the Teesta issue has been prickly.
But today, according to Sheikh Hasina’s media advisor Iqbal Shobhan Chowdhury, who was present at the meeting between the two leaders, Mamata Banerjee sent out very positive signals. “Mamata Banerjee told Sheikh Hasina, please don’t worry and don’t take tension on account of the Teesta. It will be done keeping the interest of both countries in mind. Bangladesh will get its fair share,” said Mr Chowdhury.
The Teesta is a bilateral issue between two countries and Mamata Banerjee’s role in resolving it “has its limits,” as the West Bengal Chief Minister herself put it before leaving for Dhaka. But Dhaka is happy with her positive signals, which they hope Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be able to make concrete during his expected visit to Bangladesh in March.
While there was no time-frame on resolving the Teesta issue, Mamata Banerjee was very specific on issue of the Land Boundary Agreement. A bill on swapping enclaves between the two countries as part of the agreement has been pending for some time. “Mamata Banerjee said it would be passed in the session of the Indian Parliament beginning on February 23,” said Mr Chowdhury.
There were many other happy moments during the meeting, but Teesta dominated, subtly. During lunch at Sheikh Hasina’s residence, there were five to six different dishes of ilish on the menu. And Sheikh Hasina’s gift to Mamata Banerjee was a miniature boat, the symbol of her party, the Awami League.
Sheikh Hasina’s parting words to Mamata Banerjee: “May there always be enough water in the river for the boat to sail freely.”
Mamata Banerjee could not have missed the message. No reference in her tweets, but just thanks for “warm, wonderful and special Bangladeshi hospitality.”
