The change of guard through elections in both nations brought leaders who became Prime Ministers for the first time - Tarique Rahman in Bangladesh and Balen Shah in Nepal. Yet there is a difference in their approach and intent. 

Prime Minister Shah has been pursuing a policy of maintaining equidistance from all big powers by harping on the sovereignty of Nepal, but that did not prevent his Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) Chairman from travelling to India and engaging with the top Indian leadership. The Nepalese Foreign Minister undertook a substantive and forward-looking trip to India. Over the last four months, New Delhi-backed projects have been launched in Nepal and Prime Minister Shah has assured that he will clear any obstacles Indian projects may be facing in the Himalayan State. Though RSP is in power for the first time, its leadership is acutely aware of the geography and deep economic and people-to-people links between the neighbours. 

Rahman's India Approach

Compare this with Bangladesh Prime Minister Rahman’s approach. He is hesitant to reciprocate India’s invitation to visit New Delhi, guided by advisers whose worldview is rooted in anti-India ideology. Except for the Foreign Minister, a relative lightweight, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader did not depute any senior Minister or party heavyweight to visit Delhi. A senior BNP Minister familiar with India could have been deputed as an emissary to smooth any rough edges.   

Sticking to the demand for extradition of ex-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is not helping the cause. Prime Minister Rahman in the not-so-distant past was himself in exile in the UK for 17 years and was deeply involved in the domestic politics of Bangladesh. His presence in the UK did not adversely impact UK-Bangladesh ties during the 15 years of the Sheikh Hasina regime. 

Making repeated demands for the extradition of Hasina is a non-starter. Any pragmatic leader would ideally accept India’s red carpet welcome and reciprocate the gesture of Indian High Commissioner Dinesh Trivedi who, despite being a lateral entrant, has been enthusiastic about building relations. If the hardliners in Dhaka prevent Prime Minister Rahman from making a bilateral trip to India in the near future, the door may get shut for any engagement for the time being. 

Attempts to deepen ties with Pakistan at India’s cost could derail the India-Bangladesh relationship. Pragmatic political leaders in Dhaka realise that Islamabad, with a fledgling economy, has little to offer to Bangladesh, which is facing a severe economic crunch, and India’s support in the country’s energy sector is the only relief that Dhaka can aspire to.

Bangladesh over the past decade has been a big beneficiary of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy, which guides the management of relations with countries in its immediate neighbourhood and focuses on creating mutually beneficial, people-oriented, regional frameworks for stability and prosperity, including through the building of physical, digital, and people-to-people connectivity. 

India engages with these countries on a consultative, non-reciprocal, and outcome-oriented basis, driven by the principles of Samman (respect), Samvad (dialogue), Shanti (peace), and Samriddhi (prosperity).

India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ Policy

As part of India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy, the Indian Government has been extending necessary developmental assistance and capacity-building initiatives, as per the needs and aspirations of neighbouring countries, thereby contributing towards holistic economic development of their countries. 

Under this approach, India has been assisting neighbouring countries on the development of infrastructure projects ranging from large-scale infrastructure to community-related provisioning of assets and platforms, augmentation of capabilities and extending financial, budgetary, and humanitarian assistance. 

A very large number of programmes have been undertaken by India within the ambit of this policy. Among them are humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan in the form of food and medical aid, as well as scholarship schemes for Afghan students; several development cooperation projects in Bangladesh in the areas of cross-border power, energy and transport linkages; assistance to Bhutan for capacity building and in the development of its hydropower resources, as well as cross-border connectivity linkages, including energy, rail links, road, trade infrastructure, and digital connectivity; with the Maldives, cooperation has focused on maritime security, connectivity, people-to-people exchange, and creation of community building infrastructure projects, besides assistance to overcome financial instability.

Assistance To Myanmar

The initiatives also include assistance to Myanmar for several connectivity infrastructure development projects and capacity building, besides humanitarian relief and aid to help it recover from natural disasters; a very elaborate programme of development cooperation with Nepal aimed at promoting connectivity, and developing economic, energy, digital, and cultural ties, including through the implementation of High Impact Community Development Projects (HICDP) in building hospitals, schools, colleges, drinking water facilities, sanitation, drainage, rural electrification, hydropower, embankment, and river training works, so as to improve the overall quality of life at the local level; and cooperation with Sri Lanka, including connectivity, agriculture, power, education, human resource development, culture and economic engagement, as well as a significant financial assistance programme. 

India’s assistance under its Neighbourhood First policy is regarded as valuable by diverse sections of public opinion among the neighbours, ensuring a sustainable basis for these assistance programmes to continue despite changes in administration in these countries. The new governments in Nepal and Bangladesh continue to benefit from the ongoing projects, with no attempts made by New Delhi to withdraw from any projects.  

India’s comprehensive and longstanding ties with its neighbouring countries also stand on their own footing and are independent of the relations of these countries with third countries. India is confident about the strength and enduring nature of its bilateral ties with the neighbouring countries and will continue to work together with them towards advancing bilateral ties for mutual benefit. New Delhi’s approach is benign, non-interfering, and unconditional.  

(The writer is a commentator on geopolitics and geoeconomics. Views expressed are personal.)