At least two months before the Lok Sabha election, discussion on one seat out of Bengal’s 42 seats is hitting the headlines routinely. The seat is Darjeeling in north Bengal and the reason is evident. Sources within BJP confirmed that the seat is earmarked for India’s former Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla replacing Raju Bista, an industrialist handpicked by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019.
Significance of Darjeeling seat
Darjeeling constituency not only connects Bengal to its north eastern neighbours, but also shares borders with Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan.
Thus a section of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in West Bengal, military officials and geo-strategic analysts often argued that the districts in the north of West Bengal should be directly administered verily by Delhi owing to its strategic significance.
The significance is difficult to ignore as approximately the 20-km stretch between extreme northern point of Bangladesh and south-eastern edge of Nepal – referred as ‘Siliguri Corridor’ – lies in the plains of Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency. The tri-junction of Doklam which has witnessed a stand-off between India and China and appears to have Chinese military presence in the vicinity within Bhutan is approximately 150 kilometer above Siliguri Corridor, which is within any short range land based missile system.
Incidentally, China has largest land based missile arsenal. Whether Chinese army is located in strategic points in the ridge above Doklam is debated.
But what is not debated is the significance of the corridor; if the narrow corridor snaps it will cut off seven north eastern states, Sikkim and five north Bengal districts from India, approximately 4% of India’s population.
In this context BJP leadership wanted a candidate who is not a regular politician but served as the topmost diplomat with robust understanding of the region. Mr Shringla fits the bill.
Back to base
“I am back to my own area. My house is in Siliguri in Pradhan Nagar and also in Darjeeling in Chowk Bazar,” he told Prothom Alo and added: “After working for 40 years in government service in various capacities, I am here to basically give back to the land that raised me.” He describes his role as “more of a social worker” than a regular politician.
Regarding his nomination Mr Shringla said, it depends on the people of Darjeeling.
“They have a sentiment, (if) they have a desire to see someone from the area and if it so happens that sentiment is evoked and that comes in some sort of a clearer manner that we will see in future,” he said. Besides Bangladesh, Shringla was India’s Ambassador in Thailand and United States.
As the Chief Coordinator for India’s G20 Presidency in 2023, Shringla has ensured that G20 tourism meeting takes place in Darjeeling and organised job fair which has witnessed participation of 15-20 Indian companies like Taj Group, Intercontinental or Thomas Cook and managed to dispatch 270 offer letters. He arranged visits by US delegation of top company executives and engaged Gates Foundation to support tea garden workers.
On Bangladesh
One other reason for nominating Mr Shringla – if BJP’s state sources are believed – is his performance in Bangladesh. Mr Shringla is considered as the singularly most dynamic and popular Indian diplomat in the past decade in the neighbouring country. And there are reasons for his popularity.
He liberalised visa regime as the number of annual visa disbursement went up from 500,000 to 1500000; he also removed Bangladesh from the prior approval category for Sikkim and restricted areas in India. As a result there is a huge upsurge of Bangladesh tourism in Sikkim, Darjeeling, Siliguri, West Bengal and parts of north east. Mitali express was started during his tenure, which brought tourists directly from Bangladesh to Siliguri and Darjeeling, while facilitating supply of high speed diesel pipeline that goes from Siliguri to Parbatipur.
“It is of great satisfaction to me that I could ensure Bangladesh’s participation in G20 meeting. Bangladesh was invited in the list of G20 countries and it is the only country in South Asia that had been invited. I think, it was a great boost for Bangladesh to be in G20 in Delhi,” said Mr Shringla.
However, while refusing to comment on whether his engagement as a politician may facilitate signing of long pending Teesta Water Sharing Agreement, Mr Shringla said, “However I will do whatever is best possible for me to enhance the people to people connect. I have been doing this from 2011 onwards and I will continue to do it for the best interest of the people of both the countries.”
Observers of India’s Foreign Ministry feel, if elected Mr Shringla will “surely be selected as a junior minister” in the Ministry of External Affairs reporting to the Foreign Minister S Jaishankar.