NEW DELHI: Hilsa diplomacy will precede with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s upcoming visit to Delhi, which is likely to begin on September 5. Fish traders in Bangladesh are hoping to get a clearance to export Hilsa to India during the upcoming Durga Puja celebrations and Hasina’s visit may help them.
“Durga Puja begins in October this year and more than two dozen exporters have submitted applications to the Ministry of Commerce in Dhaka to permit them to export Hilsa to India well before the festival begins,’’ say sources, adding that Bangladeshi traders have been selling Hilsa in India for the past three years.
Bangladesh is the largest producer of Hilsa and makes good profit through exports to India. Earlier this year, chief minister of West Bengal Mamta Banerjee had asked visiting Bangladesh’s Minister of Commerce, Tipu Munshi, to request Sheikh Hasina to send Hilsa to India during the festival season.
PM Hasina has used Hilsa diplomacy to bridge ties between the two nations. Her first gift of Hilsa was to Chief Minister Jyoti Basu in 1996 - before the signing of the Ganga water sharing treaty between India and Bangladesh.
Later in 2010, PM Hasina got Hilsa for Mamta Banerjee when she was the Railways Minister.
In 2016, when Mamta Banerjee took oath as Chief Minister, PM Hasina sent her 20 kg of Hilsa. In 2017, PM Hasina took 20kg Hilsa and other gifts for President Pranab Mukherjee, who was expected to break the stalemate over Teesta water issue.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh which had kept a ban on Hilsa (their national fish) since August 2012, lifted the ban in 2019 for exports to India for Durga puja as a goodwill gesture.