Managing foreign affairs a prerogative of Centre: MEA reminds Kerala, West Bengal

New Delhi: The Centre on Thursday reminded the governments of Kerala and West Bengal that managing the foreign relations of the nation was its sole prerogative.

The state governments should not intrude into matters beyond their constitutional jurisdiction, the Ministry of External Affairs underlined, reacting to the appointment of a secretary for external cooperation by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s government in Kerala and the recent statement by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that distressed people fleeing unrest in Bangladesh and crossing over to India would get shelter in her state.

Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson of the MEA, told journalists in New Delhi that Entry 10 of the Union List in the 7th Schedule of the Constitution of India made it clear that foreign affairs and all matters bringing “the Union into relation with any foreign country” were the “sole prerogative of the Union Government”.

He was reacting to the recent move by the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government of Kerala to add “matters connected with external cooperation” to the responsibilities of K Vasuki, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer and currently the secretary of the labour and skills department of the state.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, which leads the Centre’s National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, objected to the move. K Surendran, the BJP chief in Kerala, said the decision of the state government was “unconstitutional” and tantamount to trespassing on the authority of the Centre. He pointed out that managing foreign affairs was not listed as a state subject in the Constitution of India.

Jaiswal also confirmed that New Delhi had received “a communication” from Dhaka on Banerjee’s recent statement on opening up the doors of West Bengal for the distressed people fleeing the unrest in Bangladesh and crossing over to India.

The comment by the West Bengal chief minister could create confusion and mislead people, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government in Dhaka conveyed to New Delhi.

The MEA spokesperson also referred to the 7th Schedule of the Constitution of India while confirming the receipt of Dhaka’s ‘communication’ to New Delhi over the comment of the West Bengal chief minister.

New Delhi has been cautious in its reaction to the massive agitation by the students in Bangladesh protesting against reservation in government jobs. The police crackdown on the protesters resulted in the death of at least 114 people with many others being injured. India stressed that the unrest was an internal matter of Bangladesh and reiterated its optimism on Thursday that the situation in the neighbouring country would return to normal soon.

“I should not be speaking on the affairs of Bangladesh since that is a sovereign nation and whatever needs to be said on the issue is a subject matter of the Centre. But what I can tell you is that if helpless people knock on the doors of West Bengal, we will surely provide them with shelter,” Banerjee had said at a rally in Kolkata on July 21.

The Trinamool Congress supremo had already drawn flak for her comment from the BJP, which had alleged that her announcement about opening the doors for the distressed people crossing over from the neighbouring country had been a part of the “evil plan” to settle Bangladeshis from West Bengal to Jharkhand so that they could be turned into vote-banks for the Trinamool Congress and its partners in I.N.D.I.A.

Ever since Sheikh Hasina returned to the helm of the government in Dhaka in 2009, the relations between India and Bangladesh have been on a positive trajectory with the two sides expanding cooperation in development and regional connectivity as well as in the areas of security.

The attempts by New Delhi and Dhaka to clinch a deal for the sharing of water of transboundary river Teesta, however, could not succeed, as the TMC government in Kolkata stalled it, arguing that such a pact between India and Bangladesh would deprive the farmers of the northern region of West Bengal of water. Hasina’s Awami League has been holding Banerjee responsible for the delay in clinching the deal. The TMC supremo recently also protested against New Delhi’s move to start negotiations with Dhaka for renewing the 1996 India-Bangladesh agreement for the sharing of the water of the Ganges.

But the West Bengal Chief Minister’s comment on July 21 offering shelter for people seeking to flee the unrest in Bangladesh and crossing over to India appeared to be an attempt to strike the right chord with the protesters in the neighbouring country.