A foreign policy for Kolkata

The chief minister of the Indian state of West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, is not fond of foreign travel. His visit to South East Asia Singapore and Indonesia this week, however, could be a memorable one. For one there is some prospect of Bhattacharjee attracting a substantive amount of foreign investment into West Bengal.

Although political stability and other factors have increasingly made West Bengal an attractive destination for foreign capital, Kolkata has not been able to sustain an extended campaign in order to take advantage of this. Bhattacharjee now appears determined to make up for lost time.

The Indian chambers of industry and commerce are strongly supporting the trip during which Bhattacharjee will meet Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and senior ministers of Indonesia, besides interacting with the business communities in both Singapore and Indonesia.

Purists will raise their eyebrows at the suggestion of a foreign policy for Kolkata. But for all the claims to monopoly from national governments on foreign policy making, interests of states especially those on the borders have always shaped diplomacy over the centuries.

West Bengal shares a long border with Bangladesh and provides key trade and transportation links to Nepal, Bhutan and was once the natural outlet for goods and people from western China, including Tibet.

The national leadership of the Left has been so focused on grand ideological issues of India's foreign policy, it had little time or inclination to push the envelope in Delhi on issues which have a direct bearing on West Bengal's peace and prosperity.

All that could change if Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee takes a liking to diplomacy and the Left parties exercise their political clout in Delhi for West Bengal's benefit.

New opportunities

It is natural to see Bhattacharjee's visit to South East Asia as part of India's Look East policy, which has opened up new opportunities for the eastern states to accelerate their development through commercial linkages with the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean).

Equally significant has been the BIMSTEC forum which brings together parts of South and Southeast Asia-India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand together in economic cooperation.

While the Asean has naturally been the first target of Bhattacharjee, there is no reason why he should limit himself to South East Asia.

India's own Look East policy has its sights set beyond Asean to include cooperation with China, Japan, South Korea and Australia.

It is China, however, that offers unprecedented opportunities for West Bengal and should be high on the list of new travel destinations for Bhattacharjee.

At the national level trade with China is growing at more than 50 per cent a year opening up extraordinary possibilities for trade and investment links between the two economies.

Whichever way the sub-regional cooperation between India, China and the abutting regions is looked at, Kolkata's role will be front and centre.

While New Delhi, often frightened by its own shadow, has been hesitant to explore these possibilities, West Bengal has a big stake in making such sub-regional cooperation with China a reality. Beyond South East Asia and China, West Bengal could contribute significantly to the positive transformation of ties between India and Bangladesh, which have been going downhill for the last many years.

In thinking creatively about economic integration in the eastern subcontinent and boldly envisaging a global Bengal, Bhattacharjee can help reclaim the old glory of Kolkata. Economic and cultural diplomacy from a vibrant Kolkata will lend new capabilities to India's foreign policy.

C. Raja Mohan is editor, strategic affairs, The Indian Express.