Jaishankar on India-Bangladesh relations: Have to look at 'mutuality of interests'

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday (August 30) said India will have to look at "mutuality of interests" with Bangladesh, and opined that, for any country in the world, neighbours are "always a conundrum", and so are "major powers".

India's relationship with Bangladesh since its independence in 1971 has "gone up and down" and it is natural that New Delhi deals with the government of the day, he said at a book launch in New Delhi.

Anti-government protests

His comments come in the backdrop of the unprecedented anti-government protests in Bangladesh which eventually led to the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led government and her fleeing to India on August 5.

Hasina's presence in India for over three weeks has given rise to speculation in that country.

Since August 8, an interim government, led by Chief Adviser Mohammad Yunus along with a team of advisers, is in place in Bangladesh.

The book 'Strategic Conundrum: Reshaping India's Foreign Policy', written by Rajiv Sikri, former ambassador of India, talks about the country's relationship with its neighbouring countries and the accompanying challenges.

He said he wanted to focus on the title of the book, and the title for the reason, the author has framed it as "conundrum".

"And, I want you to reflect on that word conundrum... Because, normally in the diplomatic world, it will be phrased as a relationship, as landscape, as scenarios, but a conundrum by definition is confusing, it's difficult, it's a bit of a riddle, it can be a challenge. And, most of all, it conveys a certain complexity," he said.

"And, I am very glad he did that. As sometimes, when we debate foreign policy, we are in the danger of sliding into a very black and white options and scenarios, where people simplify it, they really dumb it down, more to make a polemical point, than actually carry out serious analysis," the EAM said.

Now, if we one looks at conundrums, for every country in the world, "neighbours are always a conundrum", because, neighbouring relationship for every country in the world, are the "most difficult," the Union minister said.

And, they can never be "solved", they are continuing relationships which will always throw up problems, he added.

"So, when people come up sometimes and say that happened in Bangladesh, this happened in Maldives, I think they need to look around the world. And, tell me, which country in the world doesn't have challenges, complexities vis-a-vis with its neighbours. I think it's in the very nature of being a neighbour that this will happen," Jaishankar said.

And, the very closeness, which is the definition of being a neighbour, is actually the complication, and there are other aspects to it, he underlined.

On Bangladesh, the EAM said, for obvious reasons, a lot of interest is in that relationship.

"With Bangladesh, since its independence, our relationships have gone up and down. It is natural that we will deal with the government of the day "But, we also have to recognise that there are political changes and the political changes can be disruptive. Clearly we have to look here, mutuality of interests," he added.

On India-Myanmar relations, he said Myanmar is "relevant and remote at the same time".

'China, a double conundrum'

In his address, he also spoke about regionalisation, and with whom and on what terms "do we regionalise" is the question before India.

"The basic metric of looking at a conundrum should be where is our national security, benefits or risk in that relationship. Does it help the growth of comprehensive national power and does it expand our freedom of choice," Jaishankar said.

"The second is the major powers. Major powers will be a conundrum because they are major, because of the breadth of their interests. They will always have an agenda, which will overlap with India, but to differing degrees, also diverge," he said.

"In the case of China, you have a 'double conundrum', because it's a neighbour and a major power. So, the challenges with China fit this double definition," he added.

"India must be a lifting tide for the entire neighbourhood," the EAM said in his address.

Jaishankar said this book is written "for generalists, it's not a book by the MEA, for the MEA".

"I think it is very important today to demystify foreign policy, my own endeavour in the last few years has been to take foreign policy out of MEA, and out of Delhi, and try to actually get a larger conversation started up on it," he said.

"I am also a member of the small cabal about which he is more critical when it comes to the US nuclear deal... this book is practical and grounded and it doesn't over-prescribe," he added.

(With agency inputs)