Mamata Banerjee’s public sulk on the Teesta water-sharing pact almost killed the Manmohan Singh-Sheikh Hasina summit billed as a paradigm shift in India-Bangladesh ties. A land boundary agreement and trade concessions by India saved the day, but it was a close shave for both leaders. It took an hour-long one-on-one meeting between Sheikh Hasina and Singh to turn a summit collapse into something both sides could live with. Even India’s decision to give Bangladesh duty free access to 46 textile items in the sensitive list failed to lift the sense of gloom here. A landmark agreement on border demarcation and exchange of enclaves will ensure the momentum in India-Bangladesh relations is not lost and both sides will hope that a convergence of interests driving the two leaderships is not lost sight of in the midst of Banerjee’s domestic jockeying. The agreement in itself is historic, because for the first time India will have a fully demarcated boundary with one of its neighbours and will have addressed a historical baggage of adverse possessions and enclaves.
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