Basu snubs Vajpayee in Dhaka
Palash Kumar
The Asian Age
June 20, 1999
Title: Basu snubs Vajpayee in Dhaka
Author: Palash Kumar
Publication: The Asian Age
Date: June 20, 1999
The war of attrition between Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and
West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu has reached Dhaka. In a
deliberate slight, Mr Basu did not go to the airport to receive Prime
Minister Vajpayee when he arrived at the Zia airport on Saturday
morning accompanied by external affairs minister Jaswant Singh. It
was a protocol "requirement" that Mr Basu should have been present at
the airport. Officials here gave the standard excuse: "Maybe he was
not well."
The move was expected after over a week of tense negotiations between
the West Bengal government and the Prime Minister's Office, over a
number of differences, including Delhi's rejection of writer Sunil
Gangopadhyay as a member of the bus-team.
Initially, Mr Basu had expressed his desire to travel a few kilometres
in the inaugural bus when it crossed the border, and board a
helicopter to Dhaka for the rest of the journey. The request was made
to the PMO but was turned down as the event was billed to be a "Prime
Minister's show."
The PMO informed the state government that the chief minister could
travel in the bus but would have to be ready to board it at 9 am. The
state chief secretary informed the PMO that this was not possible as
Mr Basu could not be ready before 9,45 am.
Subsequently, it was pro-posed that the chief minister could travel
with the Prime Minister in the special flight and together they could
receive the bus when it' arrived in Dhaka. "This was also not
acceptable to the state government as Mr Basu would have been like any
other minister accompanying the Prime Minister in the flight," sources
said.
Eventually, it was decided that Mr Basu would fly separately and reach
Dhaka a day in advance as a state guest of Bangladesh Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina Wajed. While this part of the itinerary was settled
though not without the state government registering a strong protest,
another problem soon cropped up. The state government taxed to the
PMO a list of 66 eminent persons whom they wanted to travel in the
inaugural bus. Again, the PMO said a firm no. "How could we have 33
West Bengal ministers and 20 local artists and officials travelling in
the bus? After all, it is the Prime Minister's function," an official
pointed out.
Among this list was controversial poet Sunil Gangopadhyay. While some
names were accepted some were not and one of the exclusions was Mr
Gangopadhyay. The PMO verbally communicated to the state government
that taking the writer in the bus was "not a good idea."
West Bengal fumed and Mr Basu made it clear he would ask the Prime
Minister about it. At the last minute Mr Gangopadhyay's name was
included but the writer bluntly refused. "After the treatment I got
from them (the Centre), it is now insulting for me to accept the
offer," he told reporters in Calcutta. He was not the only one.
Magsaysay award winning writer Mahasweta Devi also turned down the
invitation, saying her name was included after Mr Gangopadhyay refused
to go. "It is unethical for me to replace Sunil. An insult to one
author is an insult to the whole writing community," she said.
Despite the controversies, the clear mandate of the people and
intelligentsia of Bangladesh is that Mr Basu is the "cult figure." At
the Dhaka Club here, journalists are vehement in their assertion that
the bus has become a reality only due to the efforts of Mr Basu.
"It's true that Indo-Bangla relations have improved during the tenure
of Mr Vajpayee but it would not have been possible without Mr Basu.
He belongs here. People know him, the rickshawallah knows him,
there's a bond. Mr Vajpayee is a nice man, but Mr Basu is bigger,
he's a cult." one journalist said.
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