Introduction:

Neighbourhood policy is an important aspect of a country’s foreign policy. It is very important

for a country to have a peaceful and cooperative periphery, to focus on the socio-economic
development. India being the largest country in South Asia has always been feared as a hegemon
by the other smaller South Asian nations. Though India has sought to instil confidence amongst
neighbours, in India under various government regimes have made policy pronouncements to
strengthen its relationship with the neighbouring countries. Scholars like Harsh V Pant,
Mohammad Habib Sidky, S S Bindra, Swaran Singh and others have argued that India’s
influence over these countries has been decreasing and India’s foreign policies failed to maintain
its dominance.
Since the end of the Cold War and the disappearance of Soviet Union, despite the rise of China,
India was also looking to play a role in the multipolar world that is reflective of the realignment
of powers taking place. Bangladesh is one of the most important neighbouring countries of India,
it is surrounded on three sides by India along a 4094 km land border and also has a lot of other
things in common. Since the liberation of Bangladesh, it shared a strong cooperative relation
with India, which resulted in India-Bangladesh Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Peace
treaty in 1971. But in the post-Mujibur phase, Bangladesh achieved stability and its foreign
policy became more outward looking; also the changing internal dynamics within the country
with prolonged period of military rule till 1990 shaped the Indo-Bangladesh relation. While
Pakistan has been keen on promoting Bangladesh as a destabilizing factor for India by its
surreptitious support of Indian dissidents and insurgents, Bangladesh under “pro-Pakistan” BNP
– Jamaat coalition government responded favourably to Pakistan against India, the ‘common
enemy’. Matters between them were further complicated with innumerable disputes over
territory, resources and maritime border. As a result, the relations between the two deteriorated
to a level where cooperation for mutual prosperity became unthinkable and both countries
became hostage to their respective domestic politics. But a fresh turn in their relations came in
2014 when long pending issues were finally resolved and both countries started respecting each
other’s security and sovereignty concerns.
Since the Modi government doesn’t have any separate policy toward Bangladesh, Modi’s
Bangladesh policy will be discussed under the larger framework of ‘Neighborhood First Policy’
(NFP). The NFP provides a new space to revitalize India’s diplomatic relations with neighbours
amid the deadlock situation of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
Bangladesh has also emerged as a crucial country for South Asian regional initiatives like the
Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) and Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral
Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC). Two key disputes between India-
Bangladesh, namely, LBA and Maritime Boundary, has peacefully been resolved during
Narendra Modi's government. India-Bangladesh cooperation over economy, power, maritime,
education and political issues has significantly developed since 2014. But at the same time there
several issues which are still there affecting Indo-Bangladesh relations. This research will try to
analyse all these developments and also the existing concerns between these countries.
Statement of the Problem:
India and Bangladesh have common heritage, linguistic and cultural ties, racial affinities,
common economic and political history. The population of Bangladesh and India’s states such as
West Bengal and Tripura speak common language. Both the states share common history of
freedom struggle against British rule and have fraternal and familial feelings leading towards
wide ranging people to people contacts and interactions. But scholars like Lailufar Yasmin
discussed how Bangladesh’s foreign policy changed from its time of independence and its
relationship is growing with other countries like Japan and China. There are other scholars who
have argued that India’s preference for a bilateral framework in its neighbourhood policy is seen
as a means to dominate the weaker countries.
India and Bangladesh have fluctuating relations both of conflict and cooperation even though
India played major role in the liberation of Bangladesh. Both states have mutual significance for
myriad interests. The rise of Bangladesh as a nation state is a development of great significance
for the whole subcontinent. Both the states are neither close nor free from disputes and
confrontations. This stagnation in relations is held because of variety of reasons; border
problems, as well as a general feeling on both sides that several important issues are not being
given the importance they deserve. In bilateral relations between two states, the most important
issues for India are security-related issues, such as arms trafficking, movement of people, transit,
and the tripartite gas pipeline between Bangladesh-India-Mayanmar, whereas the most important
issues for Bangladesh are sharing of the waters of the joint rivers and the river linking project,
trade, and a variety of border-related concerns, including smuggling.
After 2014, in NDA regime a great deal of development has been observed; on 6 th June 2015, 22
agreements were signed and renewed on multifaceted issues including security, connectivity,
power and trade. There are three main key themes which emerged from NDA regime, 1. Dispute
Resolution, 2. Cooperation and 3. Connectivity. In this regime long discussed LBA ratification
bill was passed, which resolved critical issues regarding disputed border and land issues. The
long standing maritime boundary dispute in the Bay of Bengal has also been resolved. There is a
lot of improvement in economic, power and educational cooperation. But still there are several
issues which stays and creating hindrances in the relation between these countries, such as water
disputes, non-tariff barriers, rohingya issue and illegal immigration. To have a better
understanding on this issue it is essential to analyse all these aspects deeply and with equal
importance. This is why a detailed study incorporating all these aspects is very crucial.

Review of Literature:
There are many scholars who have highlighted different aspects in analysing Indo-Bangladesh
relation. There are scholars like Harsh V Pant, Mohammad Habib Sidky who mainly discussed
about Indian Foreign Policy towards South-Asian neighbouring countries. Some scholars
emphasized on geo-strategic importance of Bangladesh for India in trade, border and maritime
security. The ‘soft power’ centric discussion can also be seen in various literatures. There are
few scholars according to whom the nature of Indian Foreign policy under various governments
and their failure is the main reason, why India’s dominance is decreasing in South-Asian region
and other countries such as China is becoming more active in the region, which is very crucial
for Indian security.
Lailufar Yasmin in her article “India and China in South Asia: Bangladesh’s Opportunities
and Challenges”, discussed the changing equation in the South Asian region. She emphasized
on how China is developing his involvement in this region, which is proving to be a difficulty for
India. According to her Bangladesh gradually succeeded to form a free individual foreign policy
and now Bangladesh can also negotiate with these two big countries as per its interest. This study
also analysed how Bangladesh is very important for India in every aspect, like, security, trade,
common culture and history and also the importance of Bay of Bengal. China is Bangladesh’s
largest economic partner not only in the areas of trade and commerce but also in terms of
building infrastructure in Bangladesh. Also China is already investing highly in infrastructural
development in Bangladesh, the modernization of the Chittagong port being the top priority.
There are so many other ties going on between China and Bangladesh, whereas India somehow
is loosing behind.
V.P.Dutt in his article “India’s Foreign Policy In changing” defines, the India- Bangladesh
relationship can be best described as up and down relationship. The relationship was destined to
remain, for a while, somewhat acerbic and uncertain, somewhat prone to tension but rarely so
clogged as to render interchange and become enmeshed in domestic politics, perhaps much more
so in Bangladesh than in India. Although the different Governments have different opinions
about this relationship but still there is continuity in India and Bangladesh relation. Author
include views of Taslima Nazreen, who wrote a novel Lajja, half documentary in content,
describing the travails of a Hindu family in Bangladesh and squarely blaming fanatics for the
terror over the killings of the minority community.
Sreeradha Datta in her work “INDIA-BANGLADESH RELATIONS IN A CHANGING
WORLD” focuses on the importance of Bangladesh in South Asia, for India to become a global
player. She discussed the history of Indo-Bangladesh relation and what are the reasons hindering
the relationship between these two countries. This study mainly focuses on the changes in Indian
foreign policy after the advent of the Modi led NDA government. In this context she talked about
BBIN, build to develop the water and other natural resources in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and
Nepal. Then she further discussed the anti-India rhetoric, which the political forces of
Bangladesh uses in domestic politics created separation in mutual relation. Then she analysed the
cooperative initiatives between these two neighbours. India and Bangladesh decided to open up
borders for facilitation of bilateral trade besides setting an agenda of engagement spanning a
variety of sectors including transit, investment and energy. On one hand Bangladesh opened up
its borders land and water to enable India easier accessibility to its Northeast states, and
similarly, India, agreed to Bangladesh’s long standing demand of transit to Nepal and Bhutan
without the past restriction. The agreements encompassing a variety of areas were
comprehensive and broad based, and designed to cater to an overall growth in the bilateral trade
and economic relations. The two sides would now be connected through land and waterways
enabling greater facilitation of trade and business relationship. She also gave importance to the
transport corridors and the development of cross border transport. There are several other
important factors which effects India-Bangladesh relation like the energy grid, river basin
management, climate change etc.
M.R. Biju in his work “India’s Foreign Policy: Towards a new millennium” narrated how
India can contribute much in strengthening of Indo- Bangladesh relations, particularly in the
context of the Ganga Water accord and India’s unilateral trade concession to Bangladesh.
Economic development, particularly of the border regions, is the only remedy to resolve the
problems between two. At the same time, exchanges at the intellectual, academic and cultural
level are most important. It will create an environment of goodwill and friendship between the
two countries. Moreover, the strengthening and expansion of democratic and secular forces is of
paramount importance. Certainly, without any doubt that the secular and democratic polity and a
just and moral society in India will help to strengthen similar forces in Bangladesh.
Shariful Islam, in his book “Years Of Bangladesh-India Relations: Issues, Challenges and
Possibilities” talked about bilateral issues from 1972 Land Boundary Agreement to the 2015
implementation, the issues of border killing and water to the present time Covid-19 cooperation,
are included in a comprehensive manner acknowledging different perspective. He also discussed
about the possibilities of bilateral relations in military, maritime, energy and institutional sectors;
along with the history of fifty years of diplomacy. He discussed the trade initiatives developed
between these countries. In the aspect of security he divided into four dimensions- military
security, combating terrorism, maritime cooperation and cyber security. Then he gives examples
of joined military exercises, since 2010 these two countries were working jointly om terrorism
and maritime security. The issues of border killings, smuggling, women and children trafficking
are also been discussed in this book. The author also discussed the issues like the role of civil
society and even the role of China in this aspect. Then he discussed the post-covid situation and
the effects of it.
J. N. Dixit in his work, “India’s Foreign Policy and its Neighbors” has focused that now a
day’s relation between India and Bangladesh have hit a low path. This stagnation in relation is
due to the variety of reasons – border problems, the postponement of the SAARC summit as well
as a general feeling on both sides that several important issues are not being given the
importance they deserve. Among these, the important for India are security related issues which
includes arms trafficking, movement of people transit and the tripartite gas pipeline, whereas the
waters of the joint rivers and the river linking project, trade and a variety of border related
concerns, including smuggling.
In her work “South Asia Today”, S. Upreti has highlighted that linguistic nationalism was the
main factor behind the freedom and emergence of Bangladesh. There can be distinct geo-
cultural, historical, political, social and economic factor giving shape to distinct identities. The
author also focuses in this work about the causes of revolt against the West Pakistan by the
people of East Pakistan to create independent Bangladesh. East and West Pakistan come in to
light after division of Bengal. Due to exploitation of East Pakistan by Western Pakistan, people
of East Pakistan revolted and transfer of government becomes base of new country. On public
demand Lahore resolution passed. Bangladesh offers a unique case of the gradual growth and
builds up of a nation in search of a definite identity. The fall and rise of nationalism in
accordance with the political circumstances and fervour of its people leave a distinct trail of its
historical footprints. The emergence of Bangladesh as an independent state witnessed an entirely
new thrust on nationalism based on democracy and secularism.
S. Shukla in his work, “Foreign Policy of India” focused that how India helped in the liberation
of Bangladesh. But since 1991 India-Bangladesh relations have been negatively affected because
of various–such as the delay in proving the Teen Bigha Corridor to Bangladesh, the long
standing dispute over sharing oh the Ganga water between of the lean season, delineation of the
maritime boundary between India and Bangladesh, determining the jurisdiction over the New
Moore Island in the bay of Bengal, the problem of large scale illegal migration from Bangladesh
into India and other economic issues. The author also narrated the cooperation and agreements
that took place between the governments of two countries to resolve the disputing issues.
R.Trivedi in his book, “India’s Foreign Policy and its Neighbors” has focused the dispute on
Berubari and the allocation of the Teen Bigha corridor to Bangladesh among other issues. The
author has explained that both the states have many other unresolved problems between India
and Bangladesh. The Border conflict has been defined as a new twist in the relation between two
countries. He specially focused that both the countries need to resolve their disputing matters
which are important in view of security and development. In this context, the author has
recommended policy actions for India while resolving the issues with Bangladesh. India’s policy
should be underpinned by a deep sense of awareness that Bangladesh is an important neighbour
of strategic and political important to India. Most importantly, India should take the initiative to
sort out all confronting issues.
Md. Abul Kashem in his article, “Recent Issues in Bangladesh-India Relations: A
Bangladeshi Perspective” mainly focuses on the border dispute, maritime dispute, trade, water,
and transit issue. He argued that security, trade, visa, cricket, power, connectivity remain as vital
issues in Bangladesh-India relations. He also signified the geo-strategic importance of
Bangladesh and discussed new developments which took place recently. He discussed that India
was the largest trading partner of Bangladesh till 2004, but now China became the largest trading
partner of Bangladesh. In this article Kashem also discussed the recent developments on power
and internet projects. He greatly emphasized on the issues of culture, cricket, especially on
academics and media. According to him, academia and media can work as a catalyst either to
boost or deteriorate Bangladesh-India relations. There is a lack of engagement in these
dimensions between these two countries. He mainly argued that to have clear understanding
about Indo-Bangladesh relations the recent developments have to analysed along with newly
emerging issues.
In the article, “Bangladesh-India Relations: Some Recent Trends”, Mohd Aminul Karim
emphasised on the issues such as land and boundary demarcations, the sharing of water from 54
common rivers, informal trade, transnational crime and the interference in internal affairs that
have adversely affected Indo-Bangladesh relationship. According to him, India as nation is far
ahead of Bangladesh in every aspect, be it economically or in military power. Therefore, their
national interests are different. He has discussed the issues of water sharing, transit, geo-
economics in detail. He also talked about the issue of insurgency; he gave examples of insurgent
groups operating in the states surrounding Bangladesh. He then explained the Indian foreign
policy and discussed the ‘Monroe Doctrine’ and ‘Gujral Doctrine’, he explained why it has
failed. Lastly he suggested what should be the future path for these countries to follow and build
a strong bilateral relationship.

Research Gap:
After going through the existing literatures it has been found that there is a research gap on the
newly emerging issues and the changes of Indian foreign policy in recent times. The crucial
factors such as illegal immigration, rohingya issue and also the increasing influence of China
over the region is not discussed elaborately. The factors which motivate both countries to
develop good bilateral relation also need to be discussed.

Research Questions:
After reading the literatures and analysing the research gap, the research questions of this study
are:
1. What have been the approaches of Indian foreign policy towards Bangladesh?
2. What are the recent developments in Indo-Bangladesh relations?
3. What are the factors acting as the motivation to enhance the bilateral relationship?
4. What are the challenges that still remain in Indo-Bangladesh relation?

Objectives of the Study:

The main objectives of this study are:
1. To show the political and diplomatic developments in recent times, post 2014.
2. To understand the factors or interests, which motivates the enhancement in the relation
between India and Bangladesh.
3. To identify the major challenges that are still existing in maintaining good relationship
between these two countries.
4. To suggest policies and measures which may help to develop Indo-Bangladesh relation
further.

Research Methodology:
My research topic is Indo-Bangladesh relation and it’s various aspects, which can be seen from
many angles. Scholars have analysed these issues through various lenses; a number of scholars
have analysed this relation from a realist perspective, focusing on the security dilemma. There
are scholars who focus on trade or cultural aspects also. On the basis of this analysis, to
understand and analyse my research questions I prefer a qualitative research method, to theorize
the arguments. There are different theories to look into, to analyse these questions. For this kind
of research I am mainly depending on hermeneutic understanding. Hermeneutic understanding is
a process of reanalysing the utterances and performances of historical agents; it is different from
other methods because of its historical nature of perception.
Hermeneutic methodology gives emphasis on interpretation, analysing texts, lectures and
philosophical texts. As the methodology of interpretation Hermeneutics is concerned with the
problems which came up when dealing with meaningful human actions and the products of such
actions, most importantly texts. It offers a toolbox for treating problems of interpretation of
human actions, texts and other meaningful material. Modern hermeneutics includes both verbal

and non-verbal communications as well as semiotics, presuppositions and pre-understandings.

Hermeneutics is a wider discipline which includes verbal, non-verbal, written communications.
To analyse the problem in a theoretical aspect and to understand the long historical relation we
need to approach qualitative method and it can be done through a research based on library and
various archival works. For conducting my research I may also have to go through organizational
reports. Archival method allows us to read historical documents and organizational reports that
otherwise may not accessible to us. Because I have to study the bilateral relation of various
countries I have to study different arguments provided by different scholars from number of
perspectives.
In the use of qualitative research method, the different arguments can be conceptualized and by
understanding different argument in their context we can finally formulate our own findings. By
the use of qualitative research, theorization of the research questions can be done and the
inherent motives of the development of Bangladesh-Indian relation can be understood. The
research design will be descriptive and exploratory. For the data collection both primary and
secondary sources will be needed.
Primary Sources: Various official documents regarding the concerned issues will be important
for collecting necessary data.
Secondary Sources: Secondary sources include books, journals, newspaper, organisational
reports, magazine etc.

Significance of the Research:

The conflicts in the South Asian region throughout the history cause mistrust and tension in
bilateral relations. Surrounded by countries like Pakistan and China, it is very important for India
to maintain a healthy and strong relation with the other neighbouring countries. To have a
constructive relation with Bangladesh is in India’s long term interest and it could also be a
stabilizing factor for the South Asian region as a whole. There are several issues of conflict and
tension between these two countries, which makes it very difficult to formulate and develop
close relations. This research will highlight all these factors in detail. In the light of Bangladesh’s
increasing importance as trading partner, also in border and maritime security issues it becomes
very important to analyse all the aspects which influence the bilateral relation between these two
countries. This research will focus on the aspects of adversities as well as aspects of cooperation.
India’s trade has gone down significantly and now China became the largest trade partner of
Bangladesh. Geo-strategically Bangladesh has become very significant for India, to maintain its
leading position in the region. In recent time there have been a lot of discussions happening over
NRC and CAB, which have an impact on bilateral relation between both countries. After 2014
there have been many positive developments, but some new issue have emerged. Therefore this
research is very important to understand and analyse the factors impacting the Indo-Bangladesh
relation. This study will also focus on the importance of cooperative bilateral relations and why
the importance of Bangladesh for India.

Limitation of the Study:

There are some serious limitations in doing this research; this is a vast area with numerous
crucial aspects. This research includes the study of Indian Foreign Policy, focusing on post 2014
NDA government regime, as well as Bangladesh’s Foreign Policy. On the other hand, the issues
of security, trade, distribution of natural resources, illegal immigration and external influences
will be discussed. This research on some aspects needs field visits, therefore financial support
will be needed. Also the limited period of time is a very significant.

Tentative Chapterization:
The research will be divided into several chapters,
1. Introduction: Theoretical Framework of the Research
2. Indo-Bangladesh relation: An Overview
3. Developments in India and Bangladesh Political and Diplomatic Relations
4. Areas of Conflicts or Challenges in Indo-Bangladesh Relation
5. Future Prospects of India-Bangladesh Relations
6. Conclusion

References:
Dutt, V.P (1999) India’s Foreign Policy In changing world, Vikas Publishing House, New Delhi.
Biju, M.R (2000) India’s Foreign Policy: Towards a new millennium, National Publishing
House, New Delhi.
Dixit, J.N (2001) India’s Foreign Policy and its Neighbors, Gyan publishers, New Delhi.
Upreti, Sonia (2005) South Asia Today, (Edi) Gopal Singh, Ramesh Chauhan, Anamika
Publishers and distributers, New Delhi.
Agwani, M.S., South Asia: Stability and Regional Cooperation, Centre for Research in Rural and
Industrial Development (CRRID), Chandigarh, 1983.
Trivedi, Ramesh (2008) India’s Foreign Policy and its Neighbors, Isha Books, New Delhi.
Shukla, Shubash (2007) Foreign Policy of India, Anamika Publishers, New Delhi.
Datta, Sreeradha (2019) INDIA-BANGLADESH RELATIONS IN A CHANGING WORLD,
Vivekananda International Foundation.
Yasmin, Lailufar (2019) India and China in South Asia: Bangladesh’s Opportunities and
Challenges, Sage Publication.
Islam, Shariful (2021) Fifty Years Of Bangladesh-India Relations:Issues, Challenges and
Possibilities, Pentagon Press LLP.
Chakravarty, S.R., (ed.), Bangladesh under Mujib, Zia and Ershad, Har-Anand Publication
Dixit, J. N. (1999) Liberation and Beyond: Indo-Bangladesh Relations, New Delhi, Konark.
Bajpai, Arunoday . (2012). Dynamics of India-Bangladesh Relations, World Focus. February,
pp. 68.
Sobhan, Farooq (2008) India- Bangladesh Relations: Past, Present and Future, ORF Discourse,
vol.3 isuue no.3 May. Times Magazine, 15 February 2009.
Karim, Aminul (2009) Bangladesh-India Relations: Some Recent Trends, Institute of South
Asian Studies, National University of Singapore.
Kashem, Abul (2016) RECENT ISSUES IN BANGLADESH-INDIA RELATIONS: A
BANGLADESHI PERSPECTIVE, SPACE AND CULTURE, INDIA.

Signature of the Candidate Signature of the Supervisor