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| Jashoreshwari Kali Temple |
New Delhi: India has certainly 'not changed' its position towards sharing of Teesta river water with Bangladesh.Thus the forthcoming visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to that country would definitely give a push for collaboration in the water resources sector.
"We will continue our cooperation in the water resources sector. It is an important area of collaboration between the two countries," Foreign Secretary Harsh V Shringla told reporters in the run up to Modi's visit to the country commencing Friday, March 26.
Notably, in circa 2020, China had assured Bangladesh a loan of nearly US $ 1 billion for a project to maintain levels in the Teesta river during the drought season.
Last week, both Indian and Bangladesh officials agreed to expand cooperation on issues relating to water resources during the water resources secretary-level meeting.
There was extensive discussion on all the 56 rivers that flow between the countries.
"Of course, there are issues not just on water flows but use of water for drinking and irrigation purposes, in all areas we work closely. We will continue our cooperation there,” the foreign secretary said.
Incidentally, the visit comes at a time when West Bengal is going to the polls and Mamata Banerjee herself as the Chief Minister has been objecting to the central government move.
Answering questions, the Foreign Secretary said, "There has been a commitment from our side to conclude the Teesta Agreement as early as possible. We will continue to be engaged in that endeavour. I think this is also an important aspect from our side but we should not overlook the fact that we are talking about a very large number of rivers between the two countries."
Sharing of Teesta water has become an issue of great debate if not political row in Bangladesh's domestic politics. During their last virtual summit in December 2020, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had raised the matter with PM Modi .
During a trip to Dhaka on March 5, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar had said India’s position on sharing Teesta river water “has not changed”.
The 315 km long Teesta river rises in the eastern Himalayas, flows through the Indian states of Sikkim and West Bengal through Bangladesh before entering into the Bay of Bengal. Of course, it joins the Jamuna River at Fulchhari in Bangladesh.The river also flows through North Sikkim, East Sikkim, Kalimpong district, Darjeeling District, Jalpaiguri District and the cities of Rangpo, Jalpaiguri and Mekhliganj.
The Foreign Secretary also said, “Security and defence is an important part of our cooperation with Bangladesh. We have in recent years signed an agreement on defence cooperation with Bangladesh".
“We have excellent defence cooperation between our countries. As we go along, we will continue to add more and more depth and momentum to that relationship,” Shringla said.
Shringla said the visit comes at a momentous time when Bangladesh is celebrating the 50th year of its independence - an achievement which India had helped it attain. "Both countries are also observing 50 years of establishing bilateral relationships between two countries," he said.
Reports from Bangladesh say Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to visit Jashoreshwari Kali Temple at Ishwaripur village in Shyamnagar, Satkhira.
This temple was originally built in the 12th century. It was later renovated by Lakshman Sen in the 13th century and Raja Pratapaditya rebuilt the temple in the 16th century.
The temple is one of the 51 Shakti Peeths, as per the Hindu mythology.
Modi is also likely to visit the sacred shrine of 'Matua' community at Orakandi in Gopalganj district.
Modi will visit Tungipara, the family village and home of “Bangabandhu". This year also marks 100th birth anniversary of Bangladesh founder Mujib.
Both the countries share the commonality of history, geography, language and culture. The resolution of the land boundary has been a major achievement in the recent past.
High level meetings and visits by Prime Ministers from both sides including Hasina and Dr Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi have taken place during the last decade.
Both sides also have stepped up efforts to improve road connectivity between the two countries.
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BJP 'Mission Kerala'
The BJP is definitely sincere about its contest in Kerala and union ministers and central leaders including Amit Shah and J P Nadda have been campaigning.
The BJP's key to success is to a growing perception that the majority community, Hindus, have got 'alienated' from both their rival forces - the CPI(M) and also the Congress.
While Sabarimala temple issue showed Marxists in poor light before Hindus, the Congress regime under A K Antony had erred when giving in to the pressure from alliance partner Indian Union of Muslim League (IUML) strongman P K Kunhalikutty to release as many as 58 National Development Front (NDF) workers from police custody.
Founded in 1989 at Mancheri, the NDF developed unique functioning style and had allowed 'dual membership' so that members from various political parties could join the organisation. Members from banned SIMI became 'backbone' of new outfit and NDF ensured that it penetrate into every major political party including Congress and the Leftists.
With regard some grievances from Muslims, AK Antony had famously said in 2003, "Minorities in Kerala are powerfully organised... they have secured more privileges and benefits from-Government through collective bargaining".
In the past, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had said NDF was involved in the Marad massacre and referred to them as a "terrorist outfit". The organisation also allegedly had links with nefarious activists of Pakistan. The visit of Pakistan MP Mohammed Thaha Mohammed of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (of Pak) to Thalassery in April 2007 also had sparked a major controversy.
Union Minister D V Sadananda Gowda was in Thiruvananthapuram on March 23 to release the 'chargesheet' against the Left Democratic Front government.
He said the BJP is eyeing to double its vote share from around 17.3 percent in 2020 local body pollsto about 35 percent this time. Shah is in Kerala on Wednesday for road shows and rallies at key hubs like Malampuzha, Chathannor and Kanjirappally.
Of course, the saffron party is eyeing Christian voters in addition to their traditional stronghold Hindu support base. Strategy wise, the Lotus party has raised issues concerning Muslim community to make deeper penetration among Christians and Hindus. Sadananda Gowda had made smart use of a raging debate and said if voted to power in the southern state, his party-led government would bring in a law against 'love jihad (forceful conversion of girls specially using marriage as a tool)' in line with the new law in Uttar Pradesh.
However, it is to be noted that the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance, 2020 does not make any reference to 'love jihad'.
The issue of 'love jihad' suits BJP even to woo Kerala Christians as this religious minority group is also at the 'receiving end' of Islamic fundamentalism and the 'love trap'. Christians in Kerala are also irked and feel aggrieved against Muslims for they have opposed the 10 percent reservation announced by the Left regime for the poor among upper/forward castes.
There are other issues related to Muslims in the southern state and it remains to be seen how much of these would actually tilt the electoral mandate of the people.
Observers of Kerala politics say - unlike other states, the Muslim community in Kerala has no major grievances.
The Muslims have their 'due share' in trade and business and in many critical hubs, the members of this community are among the prosperous lot in Kerala.
In fact, Muslims form about 43 percent of the population of North Kerala.
Thanks to assertive politics of Indian Union of Muslim League (IUML), the community has generally held key positions politically and also in the ministry. Reports also say that the maximum number of English-medium schools was also opened in last decade or in Muslim-stronghold Malappuram district.
However, a key BJP leader in the know of things on party's electoral strategy in Kerala, said it is true that the ruling CPI-M and also the Congress have directly and indirectly aided the growth of some radical Islamic fundamentalist groups. There has been no serious investigation and criminal proceedings against such offences by successive LDF and UDF regimes over the years.
The BJP leaders think if these 'messages' are passed on to common people - both Hindus and Christians - the parry would be able to garner substantial votes.
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