MEA gags Bengal, prevents Aussie Dy High Comm from meeting Bengal ministers
In a deplorable move towards further constraining Bengal on the industrial front, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has reportedly not allowed the Australian deputy high commissioner to meet three Bengal cabinet ministers.
During his visit to Kolkata and the Sundarbans between June 18-21, Australian Deputy High Commissioner Nicholas McCaffrey has expressed his desire to meet the Trinamool Congress government’s Commerce and Industry Minister Dr Shashi Panja, IT and Electronics Minister Babul Supriyo and Agriculture Minister Sovandeb Chatterjee.
However, it has been reported that the MEA’s Oceania Division recommended that he should not meet the ministers. But the Union government had no issues regarding the diplomat meeting Trinamool Congress Members of Parliament Derek O’Brien and Jawhar Sircar.
The most striking factor of this issue is that the government hasn’t raised any concerns about the Australian in meeting the BJP’s Sukanta Majumder and Dilip Ghosh. While Majumder is a sitting MP and a newly inducted Union cabinet member, and therefore his meeting McCaffrey in not unususal, Ghosh is a former MP and therefore, the capacity in which Ghosh is supposed to meet the diplomat is still unknown.
The meeting was requested by the Australian High Commission to address areas of economic interest in the state of Bengal amidst India-Australia trade talks.
The Trinamool Congress has come down heavily on this decision and alleged manipulation by the MEA, with party MP Sagarika Ghose describing it as a completely autocratic approach by the government, and that it is “fiscal terrorism”.
Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale has said that this step is directed towards demolishing India’s federal structure.
While an official source claimed that the deputy chief of a foreign mission is much lower in protocol than a minister of a state government and therefore, the permission for the meeting was not granted, the argument fails to explain the reason for the Australian diplomat being given the permission to meet a former MP, unless the fact is taken into consideration that the former MP belongs to the party running the Union government.
