Opinion The Delhi-Dhaka distance

Forty years after its formation,the scars of Bangladesh’s early years have not yet faded. The struck-down amendment legitimised the actions of Ziaur Rahman’s blood-soaked military dictatorship; Zia’s rise to power followed the brutal murder of Bangladesh’s first president,Mujibur Rahman,and most of his family. This is living history: the Bangladesh National Party,led by Zia’s widow,is on the streets right now,leading an nationwide hartal against an Awami League government led by Mujib’s daughter. Mujib’s surviving murderers were executed only last year. Zia’s son was controversially charged on Sunday with planning a grenade assault on a 2004 Sheikh Hasina rally. The country remains deeply divided; even what you’re wearing can be an unsubtle political signal. Nehru — sorry,Mujib jackets — are the Awami League’s,and safari suits are the BNP’s. And it is with this backdrop of division that the country’s secular character,its orientation towards India,and the role of the Jamaat-e-Islami — which earned hatred in those distant days of liberation,for siding with the Pakistan army against the Mukti Bahini — are all slowly being worked through.

The problem with the prime minister’s words is not just the faulty,exaggerated numbers; it is also that saying the “the political landscape can change at any time” betrays a fatalism about Bangladesh’s future. It seems that New Delhi may still not understand that relations with Dhaka must be improved till which political dispensation rules there is irrelevant to India’s security and prosperity.

Though at least,you could think,the government understands that this period of the Awami League’s unquestioned majority is one that India must take advantage of. Perhaps the PM was trying to convey that sense of urgency? Except that,since Sheikh Hasina’s landmark visit to India in January 2010,an enormous amount of nothing has been achieved. Five joint agreements were signed then,focusing on cooperation against Islamist terror and on electricity generation. Others,on boundary demarcation and trade transit,were being worked out.

And then India demonstrated not urgency,but its exact opposite. For each item,it appeared that the Bangladeshi side created the foundations for further cooperation,making what was already agreed-on happen. And,each time,the Indian side failed to reciprocate,or did so with sloth and delay. India postponed boundary discussions for almost a year after Hasina’s visit,for example.

As for trade and transit issues,India’s attitude has been abysmal. When Bangladesh’s commerce minister snapped,after meeting Anand Sharma,that the concessions being offered were “peanuts”,his departure from normal diplomatic protocol was understandable. Sharma had just implied that a minor hike in Bangladesh’s textile quota was a giant favour. It wasn’t a fraction of what Bangladesh had a right to expect. The Tamil Nadu textile lobby,in particular,based around Coimbatore and Salem,has been particularly vocal in demanding continued protection from Bangladeshi imports,and seems to be able to twist India’s trade policy — and its foreign policy — around its little finger. Various tariff and non-tariff barriers come in the way of freer trade with India’s neighbours,and that’s just the way New Delhi likes it — but it’s petty and shortsighted,and hurts us above all.

Sheikh Hasina has to face re-election in two years. She cannot sink political capital into this relationship endlessly without reciprocation. So fixated is New Delhi on the western border,that the benefits of looking east are continually forgotten: not just access to natural gas reserves,or to electricity for the power-starved belt of eastern India,but also the possibility that India’s Northeast,long short of routes to the outside world,will gain affordable transit rights to the sea,completely transforming its economy. For the rest of India,too,longed-for integration with the markets of Southeast Asia cannot happen if we have to go around Bangladesh to get there.

The prime minister’s office has announced that he will visit Dhaka in September. Much must be done before then. Most importantly,New Delhi’s mindset must change. India needs to go the extra mile,ensuring market access for Bangladesh,visibly demonstrating enthusiasm for détente,and not just on our terms. India’s Bangladesh policy must be liberated from those who imagine the country as attitudinally frozen in time,when it is unfreezing itself quite ably. Its economy is booming; its human development indicators are better than India’s,when income is accounted for; and it is boiling with cultural expression. (Its culture of photography,for example,is the most robust in South Asia.)

But they don’t quote Faiz enough. So they will never,perhaps,have quite enough mindspace here in New Delhi,where poets from the other Punjab are worshipped,and inherited nostalgia for lost homes on that side of the border colours every political interaction. Another common culture,one perhaps richer,definitely shared by more Indians,spreads across the eastern border — but in this Punjabi-dominated city,that will never quite give relations the shove they need.

Perhaps the time has come to outsource Bangladesh foreign policy to Mamata Banerjee? At least the railway connections might get built.

mihir.sharma@expressindia.com