Transcript
Manjeet Kripalani (MK): For the first time in India, one party is in power in all of East India. This has implications for India’s foreign policy, particularly on our eastern flank. What are those implications, and what can we expect?
Harsh Shringla (HS): At least for Bengal, this is the first time in 50 years, that both the centre and the state were in sync. The last time was in 1976. Today we have a historic situation where West Bengal finally has a government that can deliver, works for the people and is in sync with the central government, and so a lot of decisions that impinge not only on development in the state but also on our international relations and our neighbourhood first and our Act East policy will finally be able to come into effect.
One of the examples I can give you is the river water sharing. There was so much resistance from Mamata Banerjee (former chief minister of West Bengal), not on substantive terms but just for the sake of opposing anything that the centre did which would take our country forward. She had a lot of reticence on issues she could not understand, and she did not allow any progress on either the Ganges water treaty and its renewal – which is now expected at the end of the year – or on the Teesta river water sharing or even on the plan to develop the Teesta basin on the Bangladesh side of our border. That’s just one example.
Border fencing, for example – we have a serious issue of infiltration, and North Bengal especially is very, very sensitive from a security standpoint. But despite that, I think she did not provide the land necessary for border fencing to be constructed, and that impeded our efforts to completely seal the border and, with fencing, make us better neighbours from that point of view. So, there are many such examples, whether it is with Bangladesh or whether it is Nepal. I remember even initiatives in Nepal were blocked because of the attitude of the Trinamool government under Mamata Banerjee.
Don’t forget the Bhutan border also with Jaigarh and Phuentsholing, that border is also an important border. The Darjeeling constituency itself has three international borders as we discussed the last time we met with Nepal on the west, Bhutan on the east and Bangladesh in the south. And if you go a little further north over Sikkim, you also come to the border with Tibet and China. So, it is a very, very strategically important area which gives a country access to our own northeastern region. I would say it is the international crossroads between India and a number of our neighbours.
That is the salience of North Bengal.
But all this has changed. A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government coming into Bengal with a full plethora of developmental tools and resources at its disposal will not only change the face of Bengal but will also change the way we work and cooperate with our immediate neighbours.
MK: The BJP has said that within 45 days, the fencing work will begin and be in progress. What are the other things that are being done now to prepare Bengal to be this new outward-looking region, to prepare it for the new world that awaits?
HS: One of the areas that the BJP manifesto focused on was the development of logistics and infrastructure. Whether it is ports, highways, airports, or railways, very strong infrastructure development that extends also to roads that are not national highways, PWD roads, or the smaller roads and that connectivity also have an impact. The development of Kolkata Port and Haldia Port – these are very, very important gateways, not only to Bangladesh and Myanmar but also to the rest of Southeast Asia.
And for Nepal also, Kolkata Port is the designated port through which all Nepal’s imports and exports go. The development of logistics and the infrastructure will benefit all our neighbours and stimulate trade and investment relations and economic relations with our neighbours. And from that perspective, it will make a lot of difference.
Another idea that just came up was fisheries. West Bengal is a state that has an abundance of water. It has a coastline, it has rivers, it has lakes. But yet, when you go to buy fish in the market, the fish has to be from Andhra Pradesh or Gujarat. West Bengal does not produce enough fish even to feed its own population. But there is a huge potential, Rs. 65,000 crores’ worth of marine products exports. With investment in cold storage chains, with investments in marine processing, aquaculture, and fish culture, West Bengal can be a major contributing factor to seafood exports across the world.
And all of these developmental activities have a certain benefit even for our neighbours. One thing I omitted to mention in infrastructure was also the development of pipelines and transmission lines. These connectivity issues are not just in road and railway but also in energy in terms of high-speed internet. All of these areas can now come up very, very quickly, with West Bengal taking the lead as the gateway not only to Northeast India, but to our neighbours across our immediate area.
MK: Till investors start feeling confident, will the funding come from the central government initially and then maybe domestic funders and finally foreign funders? Or is there already an interest from international investors?
HS: My own sense is that there’s been a huge mismanagement of funds. We’ve seen a number of scams that have taken place in West Bengal, the Narada-Sarada Chit Fund scams, the education scams, and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act scams. The entire system will have to be overhauled. And we have to make sure that the buck goes a much longer way. It goes where it should be going, which is to the people of Bengal. So, if the finance is available from the state of Bengal, it should be much better managed and streamlined.
In addition to this, the central government will have to infuse, at least in the initial period, a certain measure of funds that can enable rapid, accelerated economic development in line with the expectations of the people but also to compensate for 50 years of the lack of a complete lack of development, especially in northern India.
And of course, I’ve been speaking to certain interests. The Japanese were here recently at very senior levels. They had expressed a lot of interest that if circumstances are conducive for foreign investments,
They have an Act East forum that we share with Japan. They’re very interested in investing in West Bengal. There are many other countries that would be interested in looking at the potential that investor-friendly Bengal can offer. And there is going to be a huge difference in the way private investors, not just foreign direct investment, but investors, and also our own domestic industry will be looking at Bengal.
After all, Bengal was one of the most industrialised states of India. Today, it’s one of the least industrialised. It’s gone from a state that people used to come to in search of employment, but it’s now become a state where people have to go out of Bengal to find employment. So, we have to reverse that trend. We have to reverse that tide and bring back industry, bring back manufacturing, bring back jobs, bring back the service sector, and revitalise Bengal’s economy.
MK: Bengal also has to bring back the talent that has been leaving for the past 50 years.
HS: Oh, absolutely. Talent from Bengal is all over India now. Wherever you go, you know, very, very bright. Bengali minds are making that difference. And many of them, who are too comfortable, may not want to go back. So, we have to create the right conditions for them to get back and to be able to contribute in their own home area.
Harsh Vardhan Shringla is a Member of Parliament and former Foreign Secretary of India.
Manjeet Kripalani is the Executuve Director at Gateway House.
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