Tending to the Neighborhood

Context: The idea that India is losing its primacy in the neighbourhood has recently become a special cause for anxiety among Delhi’s commentariat. 

Instances of Regional Supremacy of India:

• During British Era: often described as “the golden age of regional primacy”; if there ever was an extended period of India’s regional primacy, it was before Independence.

• Domination of Indian Ocean Littoral: The Royal Navy and the Indian Army were used for crushing the rebellions for e.g. whether the Boers of Southern Africa or the Faqir of Ipi in Waziristan.

• Continental buffer and protectorates: British Raj often projected military power beyond them. Pesky local rulers had to be continually disciplined, deposed or bought by the British.

• Development of Connectivity: Port cities from Aden to Hong Kong and trans-regional connectivity through roads and railways – (one may call it the British Belt and Road Initiative!).

• Keeping the Subcontinent safe: resulted in frequent military and political disaster – from Afghanistan to Burma and Xinjiang to Singapore.

• Great Game was about keeping Dutch, French, Germans, Russians and Japanese at arm’s length.

• During the Nehruvian Era: The notion of regional primacy certainly persisted in the Nehru era — for instance the three security treaties with Bhutan, Sikkim and Nepal during 1949-50. 

• A testimony to India’s commitment is its unwavering contribution to peace missions and the supreme sacrifices made by the country’s soldiers. 

Reasons for India Failure to sustain Regional Primacy Post-Independence:

• Partition of Indian Subcontinent, 1947

• Division on religious lines continued to animate the region.

• Challenges faced - 

• Settling multiple boundary and river-water issues.
• Protecting the rights of minorities.
• Easing the flow of goods and people.

• Opening of Indo-Tibetan Frontier, 1950-51

• The emergence of a large and purposeful state, i.e. China, on India’s frontiers.
• It would be China’s turn now for a relentless southward ingress into the Subcontinent.

1. India’s conscious choice of De-Globalisation post-independence: led to a decline in the connectivity with the neighbours

• Challenges of Integrating foreign policy with regional economic policy: 

• E.g. the recent fiasco over onion exports to Bangladesh is primarily because the Foreign Office might see the neighbourhood as an integrated geopolitical space. But for the commerce ministry, there is no difference between Bangladesh, Bolivia, and Brunei.

• India’s ignorance of rise in political agency among the neighbourhood elites:

• The neighbours' imperatives don’t always coincide with those of India.
• Division with the elites of the neighbourhood intersects with their engagement with major powers, including India, China and the United States.

• Role of Domestic Politics in Regional Policy:

• Domestic politics have impacted relations with the neighbours in the past: For, E.g. -

• Prime Minister (PM) Manmohan Singh did not attend the Colombo Commonwealth Summit in 2013 because Congress leaders from Tamil Nadu opposed it by citing the impending elections.
• Mamata Banerjee cancelled the Teesta Waters agreement that PM Singh was to sign in Dhaka in 2011.

• Source of the problem: lies in the deeply interconnected nature of South Asian societies administered by multiple sovereigns.

Way Ahead:

• Timely responses to emerging problems and preventing small issues from becoming big.
• Aligning India’s regional economic policy with India’s natural geographic advantages: There is a need to revive regional connectivity.

• E.g. the recent launch of ferry service to the Maldives, re-opening of inland waterways to Bangladesh.

Conclusion: India’s relations with its neighbours will always be about carefully managing the inevitable difficulties that arise along with aligning regional economic policy with natural geographic advantages.