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It was Modi’s public statement during his Myanmar visit in September, which had led Dhaka to protest. India had always supported Myanmar in the international fora as Modi had blamed ‘extremist violence’ for the loss of lives in Rakhine. With Bangladesh public opinion inflamed over the violence against the Rohingya and the lack of India’s support, New Delhi had to undertake some damage-control, analyses Navodita, our Associate Editor, in the weekly column, exclusively in Different Truths.
The MoU was signed between Jaishankar and Myanmar’s deputy minister for social welfare, relief, and resettlement, U Soe Aung. According to the Union Ministry of External Affairs, the government of India, under this MoU, aims to take up a project for housing so as to meet the immediate needs of returning people. This would be the second major social project to be undertaken by India in the restive Rakhine state. After the 2012 riots, India had announced $1 million aid for the reconstruction of schools in both Muslim and Buddhist areas of the state.
Incidentally, it was Modi’s public statement during his Myanmar visit in September – in the early days of the massive exodus – which had led Dhaka to protest. India had always supported Myanmar in the international fora as Modi had blamed ‘extremist violence’ for the loss of lives in Rakhine. With Bangladesh public opinion inflamed over the violence against the Rohingya and the lack of India’s support, New Delhi had to undertake some damage-control which included an additional statement acknowledging the ‘outflow of refugees’ in the region for the first time. There were more incremental changes in India’s public position on the regional crisis. India sent relief assistance for the refugee camps at Cox’s Bazaar under ‘Operation Insaaniyat’. A few days later, Bangladesh and Myanmar signed an agreement in November. Indian official sources disputed the fact that there had been any Chinese mediation which led to the agreement, asserting that both Dhaka and Nyay Pyi Daw had insisted on direct bilateral talks.
India and Bangladesh historically, geographically, and culturally are so tied to each other that they cannot escape having significant bilateral interaction. It must be noted that India’s role in establishing an independent Bangladesh meant that, at least for a few years, India enjoyed a privileged relationship with the new state. India’s assistance to refugees from East Pakistan, as well as its relief and reconstruction aid, went a long way in setting a foundation for the country. New Delhi, by pulling its troops out of Bangladesh quickly after the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War, acknowledged the new state’s sovereignty and territorial integrity while refraining from interfering in each other’s internal affairs. But the assassination of Mujib-ur-Rehman in 1975, and the assumption of power by General Zia-ur-Rehman after a coup disrupted the healthy evolution of India-Bangladesh ties.
Bangladesh is surrounded on three sides by India along with a 4, 094-kilometer long land border. This results in near total geographical domination by India except for the 193-kilometer long land border that Bangladesh shares with Myanmar. India’s overarching presence in South Asia, in fact, has been a cause for concern for all of its smaller neighbours. Bangladesh is no exception. Like other states in South Asia, Bangladesh has tried to counter India’s regional hegemony through a variety of means. More significant are Bangladesh’s attempts to woo an extra-regional power, namely China, to prevent New Delhi from asserting regional supremacy in its relations with Dhaka. This strategy is not typical of Bangladesh’s foreign policy, but other states in the region- namely Pakistan and Nepal- have frequently used China to try to counterbalance India. Energy-hungry China views Bangladesh’s large natural gas reserves as a potential asset to be tapped.
It is high time that Bangladesh also needs to return to its more secular, tolerant traditions of Islam that it used to espouse and to oppose Islamic radicalism more forcefully. While India has taken a positive step toward the Rakhine State, Bangladesh also needs to stop viewing India with a hegemonic status and work towards more economic cooperation which will be mutually beneficial.
©Navodita Pande
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Here’s hoping sence prevails fast