#dnaEdit: A good move

It is time India repays Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for all that she has done for this country. The UPA government, despite the best of intentions, did not have the numbers, nor the political acumen to carry through what it promised. The current government does. The question is whether Narendra Modi and the BJP will allow petty political considerations to get in the way of national interest. With a good showing in the national elections in May, where the BJP won as many as seven seats in Assam and opened its account in West Bengal, it might wish to make full use of popular sentiments against Bangladesh to make more political inroads.   

BJP has begun on the right note. By choosing Bangladesh for her first foreign stand alone visit outside India, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, has sent out a reassuring signal to India’s eastern neighbour. Considering that ties had dipped to an all-time low during the last BJP-led NDA government’s tenure, when the Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s Khaleda Zia together with the Jamaat were at the helm.  
Much has changed in Bangladesh since then. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has gone out of her way to address all of India’s concerns. She has also had the gumption to bring to trial all those responsible for the bloody massacres which occurred during Bangladesh’s war of independence. Families who have seen their loved ones being  murdered, raped and tortured and waited several decades for justice are now slowly but surely getting a closure.   

The BJP is aware that Sheikh Hasina is a friend and has taken care of India’s interests. She cracked down on anti-India terror outfits like the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, handed over North-east terror groups to Indian authorities and made sure that Pakistan’s spy agency, at one time active in Bangladesh was packed home. All this was done even as the opposition dubbed her an Indian lackey.

Bilateral ties are not a one way street. India needs to deliver on issues which are of concern to Dhaka too. Yes, Manmohan Singh had extended a $1billion soft loan to Bangladesh and pushed economic and energy cooperation. Swaraj announced granting of five year multiple visas for Bangladeshis over 65 and under 13, which is neither here nor there. She also added 100 megawatts more power feed from Tripura.

India needs to deliver on essentials. The Land Boundary Agreement, already tabled in the Rajya Sabha can easily go through. Opposition from BJP, Trinamool Congress and the Asom Gana Parishad stalled it.

 The TMC has hinted it will not oppose the exchange of enclaves, something that was promised as far back as 1974.  Yet if instead of national interest, the BJP looks at its party fortunes, the deal may get stuck. Assembly elections in Assam are slated for next year and the BJP may play the populist card for votes. 

Swaraj has assured Bangladesh that her government is hoping to build a consensus on the sharing of Teesta waters. Influx from Bangladesh is a political hot potato and needs to be tackled with sensitivity. If India has to fulfil its ambitions of being  a major power it has to act like one instead of constantly quibbling with its neighbours. Modi has to  convince Indians he is working in their best interests.