Casting a Wider Net Across Indian Ocean

India recently withdrew transhipment facilities for Bangladeshi goods through Indian ports and airports, citing congestion creating problems for Indian exports.

- NITIN A GOKHALE

In reality, India was sending a strong signal to Bangladesh's interim government led by Muhammad Yunus about limits to India's tolerance towards its hostile acts.

New Delhi has been patient in not reacting hastily to Dhaka's many provocations since Sheikh Hasina was ousted last August. But Yunus's invitation to China to refurbish a Second World War airbase at Lalmonirhat in Rangpur division may have crossed India's red line, forcing the decision on stopping transhipment. The airbase in northern Bangladesh is no more than 10 km from the Indian border and 160 km from the Siliguri Corridor, which connects India's northeastern states to the rest of India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with Yunus in Bangkok on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC summit, days prior to the decision to stop the transhipment facility, was marked by a lack of warmth.

In contrast, Modi's interaction with Thailand's leadership and his subsequent tour of Sri Lanka served to bolster India's Act East and Neighbourhood First policies, reflecting the mixed nature of India's immediate and extended neighbourhood. In Bangkok, India, along with Thailand, took the lead to re-energize BIMSTEC, the grouping that straddles the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, besides elevating the India-Thailand relationship to a strategic partnership.