As would be expected, the conventional thinking on Southasian inter-state relations is predominantly bilateral in nature. As such, readers should be unsurprised by the following exchange, which took place on the floor of the Indian Rajya Sabha on 17 February 2006, when two members asked Manmohan Singh a three-part question:
(a) whether Indo-Bangladesh relations have deteriorated recently;
(b) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefore; and
(c) what steps are being/have been taken to improve our relationship with Bangladesh?
The prime minister's response is not available to this writer, but it can be said with some confidence that he did not say anything that would have embarrassed his official position or that of the government of Bangladesh. This became clear when then-Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia visited India a few weeks later – incidentally after a gap of over seven years, during which time no Bangladeshi prime minister came to Delhi. Nonetheless, the words that Prime Minister Singh had for her and the public were only the most laudatory: "Bangladesh is a country with which we have intimate ties of friendship," he noted, adding, "A peaceful, strong, prosperous and stable Bangladesh is in India's interest. It is in the interest of Southasia and all." Prime Minister Singh did not hesitate to web the relationship between India and Bangladesh within the framework of Southasia and beyond. There are good reasons for this.
Two issues are critical here. First, Bangladesh-India relations are faced with a multitude of puzzles that need to be responsibly addressed, with or without feelings of either friendship or animosity. Second, regional and global scenarios have transformed relations between the two countries in several key areas, both for the better and the worse; this is where a sheer bilateral perspective has come to be a handicap. Let us look first at seven of the stickiest puzzles facing these two countries.