Not West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee but Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has met Tripura chief minister Biplab Deb in her current visit to India.
Deb flew in to Delhi on Thursday after Hasina requested a specific meeting with the Tripura chief minister whose state borders Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is a Bengali speaking nation and hence had historical bonds with West Bengal.
But the relationship between the two leaders, Hasina and Banerjee, hasn’t been consistent.
Back in 2011, Banerjee had refused to accompany then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Bangladesh.
In spite of requests from Hasina, the Bengal chief minister did not yield.
The Teesta water sharing pact between the two nations was still pending, in spite of India and Bangladesh both keen to seal the deal, due to stiff opposition by Banerjee.
Even this year, the fiery Trinamool Congress supremo reiterated her stiff opposition to the pact, in the West Bengal Assembly.
As a consequence, Bangladesh stopped exporting Hilsa, a prized fish for the Bengali platter, creating heart burns in West Bengal.
Though the two met last year and this February, but the meetings hardly could break the ice between them.
Hasina seems to have cozied up with Tripura, a state where the main language spoken is Bengali.
Deb has also warmly reciprocated the move and results have started to reflect.
Bangladesh High Commissioner to India hosted a dinner which the two leader attended, following which Deb termed the interaction “fruitful”.
