Meeting ground

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has returned from a goodwill trip to China,brimming with ideas for creative partnership. Bihar,as the birthplace of Buddhism,is perhaps best-positioned to articulate the old civilisational connect between India and China,and Kumar certainly laid great emphasis on Buddhism as a binding agent. This visit fits in with Indias sharpened efforts to engage its neighbours,and it demonstrates the value of drafting chief ministers into the diplomatic agenda,especially when they have shared stakes as in many of our border states.

In some cases,the states politics dictates the tenor of diplomacy,the most obvious example being Tamil Nadu. However,in far too many instances,the state isnt represented in the bilateral exchange,even though its concerns have everything to do with the content. Many northeastern states are directly impacted by the questions of infrastructure,water-sharing,access to ports or migration discussed between India and its immediate neighbours like China,Myanmar and Bangladesh. And yet,CMs of these states rarely take the lead in initiating and furthering these conversations,and Delhi has rarely made place for them at the table.

States that share a border with a neighbouring country are likely to be attached to it in strong and instinctively understood ways,in terms of language and culture,and are also directly affected by the bilateral exchange. For instance,West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has a strong personal rapport with Sheikh Hasina. Surely,it stands to sense that Bengals leadership should serve as the bridge with Bangladesh,or that Nitish Kumar should have a direct line to Nepal? Punjab,of course,has a more intuitive understanding of its place in reconciling Indias and Pakistans interests,and Amarinder Singh,especially,had done much to energise trans-border engagement. These states are threshold zones,places where either/or logic between nations gives way to an awareness of the reciprocal bonds that tie us to our neighbours. So it makes sense,from every angle,to give CMs a greater role in deepening those ties.