13 November 2024

Review – India’s Near East

Prashant Singh

The sudden collapse of the Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh on 5 August evoked a mixed emotion of surprise, anger, and worry in India. However, what’s missing from the discourse is a sense of introspection of India’s neighbourhood policy, especially its troubled eastern flank. This is where Avinash Paliwal’s latest book, India’s Near East, fills the void by exploring the contours of India’s near east policy in terms of protection of its territorial integrity, protection of Hindu minorities and management of ethnic conflicts in its periphery which are the very same issues that concerned the Indian intelligentsia and establishment in the post-Hassina era. Thus, the book gives the reader a glimpse of India’s trials and tribulations in its near east over seven decades in a descriptive rather than prescriptive manner.

The book is divided into three parts and ten chapters, each covering India’s particular approach to its near east, i.e., solidarity, security, and connectivity, chronologically. The solidarity part covers the 1947-1970 period and describes how India deals with the aftermath of partition and the initiation of ethnic insurgencies in its near east. The security part focuses on the 1971-1990 period. It covers the Bangladesh liberation war, the assassination of leaders like Sheikh Mujib and Jia Ur Rahman, and India’s support of pro-democracy elements inside Myanmar. The last part, i.e., connectivity, covers the 1990-2024 period and describes how India calibrated its near east policy to adjust to new realities of economic liberalization and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

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