NEW DELHI – Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat’s statement concerning aninflux of people from Bangladesh into India through the machinations ofChina and Pakistan has done more harm than good in Indian foreign policy.
Bangladesh’s political and intellectual communities are certainly in nostate of shock after this statement. But they are surprised that the chiefof Indian army has made comments which have a whiff of the political aboutthem.
Beyond the surprise comes the improbable thought that Bangladesh is home tosinister ideas being given shape by countries which traditionally have nothad an easy relationship with India.
In the past nine years, with the Awami League of Sheikh Hasina presidingover Bangladesh’s fortunes, the clear impression, backed by concreteevidence, is that Dhaka and Delhi have had comfortable relations. ThoughIndia and Bangladesh failed to reach an accord on sharing the waters of theTeesta, owing to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjeelink>’s worries about theproblems her state might face in the absence of an equitable arrangement,the two countries initialed 22 accords during the Bangladesh PrimeMinister’s visit to Delhi last year.
For General Rawat to suggest, therefore, that a planned immigration ofpeople has been going on from Bangladesh, through means employed inPakistan and China, flies in the face of reality.
The general has not explained how he has come to this conclusion. But hehas obviously ignored the fact that Dhaka, which in the past decade or sohas not had much reason to maintain friendly links with Islamabad —Pakistan’s interference in the war crimes trials in Bangladesh being aprime cause — will not countenance any measure that will disturb Delhi.
As for Bangladesh’s relations with China, these have been dominated byfactors such as defence deals.
General Rawat’s conviction that a proxy war is being waged by China andPakistan through forcing Bangladeshis into India is being seen in Dhaka asnot only an instance of naivete on the part of the Indian Army Chief butalso one of grave irresponsibility.The implication of his statement cannot be missed: Bangladesh, in Rawat’sview, is a willing player in a bad game devised by Pakistan and China.
The Indian Army Chief has not done himself or his country any favour by hisforay into territory, which from the Bangladesh perspective, is not his totraverse.
It would have helped if the foreign policy establishment in Delhi had movedquickly to distance itself from the general’s remarks. And of course itwould also have helped, if the Foreign Office in Dhaka had swiftly comeforward to put forth its view.
Neither has happened, which is a pity.