Defence deal with Dhaka makes eminent sense
After reaching a land border agreement with Bangladesh, India had hoped to follow this historic achievement with a resolution on the sharing of Teesta river waters with that country. Unfortunately, this will have to wait for a while, given that West Bengal, one of the important stakeholders in the issue, has yet to come around. The impasse has of course got much to do with the fractious relation that the Union Government presently shares with the State's Trinamool Congress and its leader Mamata Banerjee. Her acceptance is crucial since water is a State subject. However, this does not mean that an arrangement will not happen; rival parties in the country have joined hands in the past in the national interest. In the land border deal, for instance, members cutting across party lines in both the lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, joined hands to endorse an enabling legislation, breaking a more than four-decade old deadlock. The Bharatiya Janata Party too, which had earlier expressed reservations on the issue, revised its stand after the Prime Minister made it known that he wanted the agreement to go through in the larger interests of the two countries. Here, Mamata Banerjee too played a positive part, as did the Congress which, many had feared, would play a spoilsport. Unfortunately, the bonhomie has not yet extended to the Teesta issue. Thus, for now, the focus of the Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to India, scheduled for April this year, will remain majorly on non-Teesta matters.
One of these is expected to be as path-breaking as the Teesta deal would be: Defence cooperation. The details of what is being referred to as a comprehensive defence agreement, are still being worked out, but the broad drivers are in place. Over the past few years, especially with the Hasina regime in place, India and Bangladesh have been coordinating in matters of anti-terrorism. Both New Delhi and Dhaka are on the same page, and unambiguously so, when it comes to holding Pakistan responsible for the spread of terror in the region — primarily in India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Bangladesh, like Afghanistan, had firmly been on India's side when it came to boycotting the South Asian Association for regional Cooperation (Saarc) meet in Pakistan just months ago. The proximity of mutual interests has paved the way for deeper defence cooperation between India and Bangladesh. India already has a robust defence partnership with Kabul — though there is still enormous scope for upping it — and an arrangement with Dhaka will serve to not just enhance New Delhi's footprint in the region but also get it even closer to Bangladesh.
There is also the China factor — the Dragon appears to be the elephant in the room in virtually even issue of regional importance. Dhaka has been reaching out to Beijing for its defence needs; only recently it ordered submarines from China, somewhat unsettling New Delhi. Besides, China has been making massive investments in Bangladesh. Six months ago, China signed off on loans worth over $24 billion to Bangladesh during President Xi Jinping's visit there. This is Dhaka's biggest foreign credit line to date. It makes sense for India, therefore, to respond in a mature but adequate manner.