Is the spat with Tamil Nadu forcing the Centre to mend ties with Bengal?

A swift nod to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to speak at Oxford University, a meeting to discuss the clearance of the state’s pending funds, and decks cleared for oil drilling in North 24-Parganas district of West Bengal — all in one month flat.

The BJP-led Centre’s sudden spate of cooperation with the TMC-led state has surprised even seasoned bureaucrats in Bengal. After all, they are more used to seeing hostility than cooperative federalism between the two. Miles away, the Centre seems to have extended an olive branch to the Left-ruled Kerala as well.

But this hint at a thaw in the Centre-state relations has given rise to an obvious question in the corridors of power: What is causing the Centre to turn soft towards West Bengal? Is it the straining of its relations with Tamil Nadu?

Sudden change of heart

The thaw began last year itself, when Governor CV Ananda Bose suddenly had a change of heart after 18 months of constant bickering with the state government over the appointment of vice-chancellors. Besides starting to clear their appointments in December, he also happily administered oath to six newly-elected TMC MLAs that month after refusing to do the same with two other MLAs merely six months back.

Many have wondered whether TMC’s kitty of 29 Lok Sabha members brought about the softening of stand from the BJP, which has been left teetering at the Centre with the support of two volatile allies in the shape of Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) and Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP.

Now, what has compounded the Centre’s discomfort is the sudden escalation of animosity with the DMK-led Tamil Nadu over the dual issue of three-language policy and delimitation, which poses the risk of spreading in other states too.

Also read: Delimitation row: Stalin seeks states' unity, writes to CMs to join JAC

Meeting likely next week

Whatever the reason may be, the Union rural development ministry last week conveyed its willingness to discuss with West Bengal officials the release of outstanding funds meant for centrally-sponsored schemes in the state, official sources told The Federal.

In the recent past, the Centre repeatedly ignored requests from the state for such a meeting. The last such request was made by state Rural Development Minister Pradip Mazumdar in January, seeking an appointment with the Union minister.

Finally, after much dragging of his heels, Union Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan agreed to discuss the issue with the state later this month, said an official of the department. Though the date of the meeting has not yet been finalized, it is expected to be held next week.

PMAY-G funds

The main agenda of the meeting could be the release of the state’s dues for the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G), as the minister is currently scrutinising a file for the release of PMAY-G funds amounting to Rs 7,888.67 crore to West Bengal.

According to a state government estimate, over Rs 18,000 crore has been pending under schemes such as PMAY-G and MGNREGA since the 2022-23 financial year.

A parliamentary standing committee recently took a serious note of the fund freeze, pointing out that it spiked distress migration, disrupted rural development initiatives, and adversely impacted livelihoods of rural populations.

“Until recently, the Centre turned a deaf ear to such concerns,” said a senior state government official. “Now at least it has agreed to discuss the matter, taking note of the distress.” The state government is expecting at least the PMAY-G funds to be released by March 31, he said.

Also read: Is Mamata BJP’s new Naveen Patnaik? Bengal Governor-CM bonhomie indicates so

Mamata’s UK visit cleared

In another marked shift in its approach, New Delhi did not take any time to give clearance to Mamata’s London visit to deliver a lecture at Oxford University’s Kellogg College on ‘Social Development: Empowerment of Women and Children’, officials say. The event will be held on March 27.

On previous such occasions, the Centre earlier either denied her permission for overseas visits or dilly-dallied on it, officials said.

She was also invited to address the Oxford Union Debate in 2020. However, the event was called off the day it was scheduled, allegedly due to pressure “from the top.”

Spate of cancellations

Earlier, in 2018, she was invited to attend the Parliament of World Religions, marking the 125th anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s historic speech, in Chicago. It was cancelled citing “unforeseen difficulties”.

Mamata had then alleged that the event was cancelled due to “evil forces threatening the organisers”.

She was denied permission by the external affairs ministry to participate in a convention of the Nepali Congress in December 2021 as well. That same year, she was prevented from participating in a peace convention titled “Peoples as Brothers, Future Earth” in Rome.

Also read: Bengal Governor nod for VC appointments: 18-month row coming to an end

Oil-drilling land allocation cleared

In another major positive development, the decks for the oil-drilling operation by the ONGC at Ashoknagar in North 24-Parganas were also cleared last week after the Centre and the state resolved their differences over land allocation.

The operation was on hold from 2020 due to differences over land lease.

Too strange to be a coincidence?

The sudden spate of positive developments has led many officials to try to read between the lines. “Even if it’s a coincidence, it’s a strange coincidence,” an official said when asked whether the indication of good tidings for Bengal is due to the ongoing tiff between the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government.

The TMC sees a political strategy behind it. “The BJP-government has realised that the wheels of progress and development cannot be stopped in Bengal by withholding funds. The Mamata Banerjee government has launched its own 100-day job and rural housing schemes. Withholding of funds only alienated people of Bengal from the BJP,” claimed TMC spokesperson Monojit Mandal.

However, according to political commentator and Commonwealth Fellow Debashis Chakrabarti, the Centre possibly “does not want to simultaneously confront all the non-BJP states”, and many officials concur with the proposition.

Also read: EC’s goof-up gives TMC an EPIC chance to push its ‘outsider’ narrative

Olive branch to Kerala too

Interestingly, West Bengal is not the only state towards which the Centre is trying to extend an olive branch. Leftist Kerala has also received one. Incidentally, both Mamata and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan are on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin’s list of invitees to the March 22 meeting opposing delimitation.

In Kerala, the peace initiative has been taken by Governor Rajendra Arlekar, who has had close ties with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). According to sources close to Kerala BJP leaders, his initiative to bridge the gap between the Union and state government is a well-thought-out move backed by the RSS.

The RSS believes, sources say, that a confrontational approach towards non-BJP states may not be beneficial in the long run. In Kerala, in particular, stifling the LDF government could provide an immediate advantage to the Congress-led UDF rather than the BJP.

Therefore, the Sangh has advised the Union government to find common ground with state governments on developmental issues and stake a claim in their achievements.

Arlekar’s presence in a recent meeting between Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, and the meeting of Kerala MPs in Delhi he convened point to this as well.

(With inputs from Rajeev Ramachandran in Kerala)