New Delhi, Aug 30: Since its independence in 1971, India's relationship with Bangladesh has “gone up and down” and it is natural that New Delhi deals with the government of the day, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Friday.
In his address at a book launch here, he also emphasised that India will have to look at “mutuality of interests” and said for any country in the world, neighbours are “always a conundrum”, and so are “major powers”.
His comments come in the backdrop of the unprecedented anti-government protests in Bangladesh which eventually led to the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led government and her fleeing to India on August 5.
Hasina's presence in India for over three weeks has given rise to speculation in that country.
Since August 8, an interim government, led by Chief Adviser Mohammad Yunus along with a team of advisers, is in place in Bangladesh.
The book ‘Stategic Conundrum: Reshaping India's Foreign Policy', written by Rajiv Sikri, former ambassador of India, talks about the country's relationship with its neighbouring countries and the accompanying challenges.
He said he wanted to focus on the title of the book, and the title for the reason, the author has framed it is “conundrum”.
“And, I want you to reflect on that word conundrum… Because, normally in the diplomatic world, it will be phrased as a relationship, as landscape, as scenarios, but a conundrum by definition is confusing, it's difficult, it's a bit of a riddle, it can be a challenge. And, most of all, it conveys a certain complexity,” he said.
“And, I am very glad he did that. As sometimes, when we debate foreign policy, we are in the danger of sliding into a very black and white options and scenarios, where people simplify it, they really dumb it down, more to make a polemical point, than actually carry out serious analysis,” the EAM said.
Now, if we one looks at conundrums, for every country in the world, “neighbours are always a conundrum”, because, neighbouring relationship for every country in the world, are the “most difficult,” the Union minister said.
And, they can never be “solved”, they are continuing relationships which will always throw up problems, he added.
“So, when people come up sometimes and say that happened in Bangladesh, this happened in Maldives, I think they need to look around the world. And, tell me, which country in the world doesn't have challenges, complexities vis-a-vis with its neighbours. I think it's in the very nature of being a neighbour that this will happen,” Jaishankar said.
And, the very closeness, which is the definition of being a neighbour, is actually the complication, and there are other aspects to it, he underlined.
