West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee met Bangladesh High Commissioner M Riaz Hamidullah at the state secretariat Nabanna for the first time in 9 years. The courtesy meeting was held to discuss motives behind incidents like the vandalism of a site linked to Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in Bangladesh. The Kachari House in Sirajganj is a site tied to Tagore’s legacy.
The meeting is all the more significant with tensions high between New Delhi and Dhaka since the ouster of Bangladesh’s former PM Sheikh Hasina. West Bengal shares a 2,217 km long porous border with Bangladesh. The two, previously the presidency of Bengal during Colonial times, share eons of cultural ties. CM Banerjee expressed hopes for Bangladesh’s prosperity but also pressed for heightened probes into the Kachari House vandalism. Hamidullah reassured the CM that the incident was a local law and order issue without political or religious motives. He also revealed that the government of Bangladesh is committed to protecting the Heritage and culture of the nation.
The main subtext of the 30 minute meeting however was border security. Since the Pahalgam terror attacks, India has tightened border security with the BSF increasing patrols and deporting illegal immigrants. Aggravating incidents like the ousting of 7 Bengali migrant workers to Bangladesh despite being Indian citizens have drawn sharp criticism from the TMC government of the state. The CM has even gone on to accuse the Prime Minister of targeting Bengali speaking nationals.
The envoy then proceeded to propose a joint geobiodiversity survey to leverage ecological similarities between the two regions. Such collaboration could harness ecological synergies between the Sundarbans and Bangladesh’s wetlands, potentially easing tensions through shared environmental goals.
The BJP opposition called the meeting a maneuvre to protect electoral interests rather than address cultural or regional concerns. They believe that both CM Banerjee and Bangladesh have ‘common interests’.
