The leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha,Arun Jaitley,has come up with a convoluted argument to justify the BJPs unfortunate opposition to the long overdue land boundary settlement with Bangladesh. From a technical perspective,Jaitleys objections on constitutional grounds will be laughed out of court. From the perspective of Indias national interest,Jaitleys argument reveals how far the BJP has drifted from common sense.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had signed a protocol to the 1974 land boundary agreement during his visit to Dhaka in September 2011. Since then,the UPA government has struggled to mobilise political support for the constitutional amendment required to implement the agreement. It finally introduced the 119th Constitutional Amendment Bill in the Rajya Sabha last week. Parliamentary approval of the bill will clean up the territorial ambiguities in the east left by the partition of the subcontinent,vastly improve Indias ability to manage its eastern frontiers,facilitate expansive transborder economic cooperation with Bangladesh,transform political relations with Dhaka and alter Indias geopolitical condition.
The BJP may have many narrow political considerations in opposing the bill,especially in the light of resistance from its state party units as well as the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and the Asom Gana Parishad in Assam. If the BJP stands by Jaitleys illogic,it must necessarily oppose any negotiation of Indias land boundary disputes with any of its neighbours,including China,Pakistan and Nepal. If this is a considered position of a party that is in striking distance of power,one shudders to think what the foreign policy of a BJP government might look like.
VAJPAYEES LEGACY
If the Manmohan Singh government has failed to make solid political arguments in defence of its major foreign policy initiatives,the BJP has,over the last decade,shown little conviction or commitment to any principle. Reflexive opposition to the government,irrespective of national interest,has become the norm for the BJP.
Whether it was the nuclear deal with the US or engaging the neighbours,the BJP appears to have abandoned the legacy of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. When the Jana Sangh merged with the Janata Party,it called for a good neighbourly policy. As foreign minister in the Janata government,Vajpayee strove to improve Indias relations with all neighbours,including Pakistan and Bangladesh and sought to normalise relations with China. As prime minister,Vajpayee boldly departed from traditional thinking and explored peace settlements with Islamabad and Beijing. Although his government did not succeed,his political courage cleared a lot of difficult ground for his successors.
WILL AND VISION
The national leadership of the BJP has squandered a big moment to help redefine Indias relations with Bangladesh and exercise leadership on an important national security issue. As a result,Delhi has let down the one leader in the subcontinent,Sheikh Hasina,who has bravely confronted extremists and gone out of the way to cooperate with India on combating terrorism.
It is a pity that Manmohan Singh,who persisted with Vajpayees regional policies,did not get enough support from the Congress for his initiatives towards the neighbours. The national leadership of the BJP,in turn,appears to have no positive foreign policy agenda at all. The lack of political will in the Congress and the vision deficit in the BJP,combined with their temptation to put the tactical above the strategic,bode ill for Indias regional policy. At a moment when the subcontinent is entering a turbulent phase and needs strong Indian leadership,the Congress and the BJP appear to have run out of steam.
The writer is a distinguished fellow at the Observer Research Foundation,Delhi and a contributing editor for The Indian Express
