Centre ‘disallows’ Mamata’s Nepal visit, TMC at loggerheads with BJP

She had been invited by the Nepali Congress, of which Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is the president, to attend the inaugural session of its 14th national convention

Mamata Banerjee.: File photo

Meghdeep Bhattacharyya And Pranesh Sarkar   |   TT  |  Calcutta   |  11.12.21 : The Narendra Modi government is said to have disallowed Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee from visiting Nepal, which Trinamul sources said had raised the hackles of the leadership.

The Trinamul chief had been invited by the social democrat Nepali Congress, of which Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is the president, to attend the inaugural session of its 14th national convention on Friday in Kathmandu.

The sources said the chief minister’s office had sought clearance from the Union ministry of external affairs but she was denied the permission. 

Sources in Nabanna said Deuba’s letter had been forwarded to Delhi, seeking approval for the chief minister’s visit to Kathmandu.

“Delhi had sent some queries. We replied to all the questions. But it is still not clear why the permission for the chief minister’s visit 

was withheld,” a state official said.

The external affairs ministry refused to comment on the allegation.

Sources in Nabanna said that in case of chief ministerial visits to foreign countries, the Centre’s approval is needed for several reasons.

“First, the relation between the country a chief minister intends to visit and India is considered. As the chief minister of a state represents the country, proper protocol has to be followed by the nation he or she wants to visit. The Centre wants to be sure that bilateral relations are not strained by any means,” an official said.

The reason why a chief minister is visiting a foreign country is also important.

“If it is a visit to attend an investment summit or a meeting to draw investments, it is easier to get clearance. But in case it is a political programme, the Centre wants to be sure it would not have an impact on the relations with the country in question,” another official said.

If a chief minister plans to travel abroad for medical reasons, the Centre grants immediate approval, he said.

“We don’t have the details of this (the apparent denial of permission to visit Nepal) yet… but it is clearly it is a discriminatory, spiteful act by the Centre,” said Trinamul state general secretary Kunal Ghosh.

“They (the BJP) are not being called anywhere globally. Everywhere in the world, in all major indices, India is falling rapidly under them. The one who is acceptable instead, rising rapidly, being noticed around the world… when that person gets invited, they can’t handle it,” Ghosh added.

“This has been happening a bit too frequently now…. This is the political bankruptcy of the BJP,” he said.

In the run-up to the September 30 Bhowanipore by-election, Mamata had drawn attention to the Centre’s denial of permission to her for foreign events, calling the BJP “hingshutey (envious)”.

Mamata has often dared the BJP to keep trying to stop her from representing Bengal and India, vowing to get her pluralist, inclusive message of harmony across sitting in the state.

In September, the Centre had denied the Bengal chief minister permission for a visit to Rome in October for an event that she was invited to by Macro Impagliazzo, the president of Community of Sant’Egidio, a Catholic association based in Rome, to participate in a World Peace Conference.

She was the only Indian to be invited to the event. 

Other invitees included German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Pope Francis, Grand Imam of Egypt Al-Azhar Ahmad al-Tayyib and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

In December last year, a virtual Oxford Union programme got cancelled 40 minutes before it was to take place, which Mamata’s party attributed to “political pressure from the highest levels”.

In September 2018, Mamata had blamed an “awshubho chawkranto (unholy conspiracy)” for her not being able to attend a Chicago event commemorating the 125th anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s address to the World’s Parliament of Religions. After she was invited to attend the Chicago event, Mamata received a letter from the Vivekananda Vedanta Society of Chicago, saying it was being called off.

In July 2018, a proposed address by Mamata to students of St. Stephen’s College in New Delhi was cancelled, allegedly under “saffron pressure”.

In June 2018, Mamata had cancelled her nine-day trip to China hours before her flight as Beijing could not confirm her meetings with the Communist Party of China’s leadership at an appropriate level. The year before that, she was “advised” by the Centre against going to China to seek investments, because of the border standoff at Doklam.

“It happened a lot in 2017-18, before the Lok Sabha polls of 2019. It has been happening again since she trounced the BJP in Bengal in the election that the whole world was watching keenly,” a Trinamul Rajya Sabha member said.

Domestic trips

The Bengal chief minister plans to visit Guwahati on December 20 after a trip to Goa on Monday. In Guwahati, Mamata is to offer prayers at the Kamakhya Temple, followed by a trip to Shillong in Meghalaya the following day. The trips to Goa and Meghalaya are political exercises.