Development, Not Division: Clubbing Oft-Ignored North Bengal With North East Can Benefit The Entire Region

Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar, also the Union Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), has sparked controversy over his proposal to club the underdeveloped North Bengal with the North-East for the region’s accelerated development. 

“I told him (Prime Minister Modi) about the similarities between North Bengal and the North-Eastern Region (NER) and the common problems faced by the two regions. I have submitted a proposal to the PM saying that North Bengal can be clubbed with the NER. If this happens, North Bengal will get a lot of funds for development under central schemes and will witness fast-paced development. I don’t think the state government will have any objection and we will receive the cooperation of the state (Bengal) government,” Majumdar said on the video. 

Opposition from TMC Leaders

But this proposal triggered howls of protests from Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders who alleged that it was a sinister plot to hive off North Bengal from the rest of the state. 

“The BJP has been trying to divide Bengal for a long time and this proposal is part of the BJP’s nasty game plan. We will oppose it and foil it,” said TMC senior spokesperson Kunal Ghosh. A number of other TMC leaders joined in to condemn the proposal. 

What Majumdar actually meant was that North Bengal ought to be brought under the purview of the North Eastern Council (NEC), a nodal agency for the socio-economic development of the seven states of the North East (Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura) and also Sikkim. 

Role of North Eastern Council

The NEC receives funds directly from the union government and finances integrated development projects aimed at the holistic development of the eight states. 

Since the North Eastern (NE) states are small, lacking in resources, and also socio-economically backward, the need for a nodal agency to oversee the integrated development of the entire region was felt — this led to the establishment of NEC in 1972. 

Sikkim was incorporated under the NEC in 2002 since the problems faced by the tiny Himalayan state were similar to the North-East. 

Majumdar only advocated bringing North Bengal under the NEC, and not a division of Bengal as is being alleged by the TMC. 

If North Bengal (comprising the districts of Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Darjeeling and Uttar Dinajpur) is brought under the developmental purview of the NEC, then the entire landmass stretching from Sikkim to the Northeast can be treated as one geographical entity. 

“It makes a lot of sense to treat one entire region, especially a backward region lacking in resources like the Northeast, as one geographical entity for integrated socio-economic development. A nodal agency like the NEC can then formulate and execute plans for the coordinated and comprehensive development of the entire region,” development economist Sunil Behera who is a consultant with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) told Swarajya. 

The NEC has been successful in charting out and executing many development projects that cut across state boundaries and have benefited the entire region. 

“Individually, the governments of the small Northeastern states had only limited resources — financial, manpower, institutional, etc — to plan and execute development projects in their own states. The Northeastern states were, thus, witnessing only piecemeal and uncoordinated development. The NEC was a brilliant idea and the council has been successful in implementing projects transgressing the political boundaries of the states. These projects have hugely benefited the entire region,” K P Barua, a former Advisor to the NEC, told Swarajya. 

The existence of the NEC has not compromised the political and administrative integrity or functioning of the NE states, and there is no reason why incorporating North Bengal into the NEC will amount to the bifurcation of Bengal. 

Potential Benefits of the Proposal

If North Bengal is combined with the eight Northeastern states and brought under the NEC's developmental purview, comprehensive development plans for the entire contiguous region can be formulated more easily. 

Currently, Sikkim is separated from the Northeastern region by North Bengal, which has significantly hindered the NEC's ability to develop comprehensive plans for Sikkim and the other states under its ambit. 

“Sikkim is quite removed from the other seven NE states by North Bengal. So, it cannot be brought under the mega multi-state development plans of the NEC. For that to happen, the areas have to be contiguous, as is the case with states of the North Eastern region that adjoin each other. If North Bengal is brought under the developmental purview of the NEC, the entire region — North-East, North Bengal and Sikkim — will become a contiguous land mass whose integrated development will become much easier,” explained Behera. 

North Bengal has traditionally faced abject neglect from Bengal’s rulers in Kolkata. The entire region, including the Darjeeling hills, remains backward and lags behind the rest of Bengal in all development indices and parameters. 

North Bengal, which suffers from the tyranny of geography (being removed from Bengal’s power centre — Kolkata), has never been prioritised by successive regimes in the state, including the present TMC government, for development. 

Despite generating a lot of revenue from tea, tourism and timber (North Bengal is Bengal’s prime tourism hotspot), Bengal’s rulers have turned a blind eye to the region’s development. This has led to an acute feeling of alienation among the people in the region, especially the Gorkhas and Rajbongshis, who have been asserting their distinct identities and demanding separation from Bengal. 

If the junior DoNER minister’s proposal is implemented, this development deficit that North Bengal suffers from so acutely will start getting mitigated. Sikkim will also benefit because it will get covered under NEC schemes meant for the integrated development of the entire region. 

Political Challenges

Incidentally, the NEC’s rules and statutes will have to be modified to pave the way for bringing a part of a state, and not the whole state, under its purview.  

But the challenge, and a major roadblock, will be Bengal’s approval of this proposal. The TMC government, which views everything through a narrow political prism, is unlikely to greenlight the proposal. 

Based on statements from its leaders, they view the proposal as a step towards the bifurcation of Bengal, potentially encouraging centrifugal tendencies among the long-suffering indigenous people of North Bengal. 

Bengal’s expected opposition to the proposal will be a shame since it would thwart a golden opportunity for the accelerated socio-economic development of North Bengal. Additionally, this opposition would further alienate the region's indigenous people.