Why is the relationship of neighboring countries with India so dependent on one political camp there? Why doesn’t it have a basis across the entire political spectrum? Then how responsible are the ruling leaders of India themselves for the anti-India sentiments in those countries?
India needs deep introspection on the foreign policy front, but expecting the same from the current government is unfounded. The identity of this government has been to create elements of adaptability in adverse situations. The same signal was received again when Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar participated in the dialogue of Asia Society based in Washington. However, it was heartening to hear from him that India does not expect the internal events of neighboring countries to happen as per India’s wishes. The reference was to the coup in Bangladesh about two months ago and the election results in Sri Lanka this week. Anti-India sentiments have been on the rise in Bangladesh since Sheikh Hasina was forced to leave the country on August 5. Here it is understood that the new President of Sri Lanka Anura Kumar Dissanayake and his party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna have traditionally been “anti-India”. This means that within two months, new challenges have arisen for Indian foreign policy in two neighboring countries. The subject of introspection should be that why is the relationship of neighboring countries with India so dependent on one political camp there? Why is its basis not widespread across the entire political spectrum?
The second topic of introspection is that how responsible are the ruling leaders of India themselves for the anti-India sentiments in those countries? Recently, when Home Minister Amit Shah went to Jharkhand for election campaign, he said something about Bangladeshis, which again flared up anti-India sentiments in Bangladesh. Shah has earlier also used words like “termites” for Bangladeshis. Similarly, on the occasion of elections in Tamil Nadu, the Prime Minister had strongly raised the issue of Kachchativu Island, which drew a sharp reaction in Sri Lanka. The irony is that after the elections the question of Kachchativu was forgotten. When leaders sitting at the top of power raise issues related to other countries according to election calculations, do they not think about its possible impact on those countries? Jaishankar remained silent on such points.