Snehashish Mitra
(Snehashish is a research assistant at Calcutta Research Group and can be reached at snehashish@mcrg.ac.in)
In the annals of history, today’s
northeast region (NER) of India has been a frontier region without any clear
cut boundary or borders. Territories were marked by a few kingdoms like the
Ahoms, Koch, Manipur and Twipperah (today’s Tripura), while ethnic demography
was equally influential in controlling resources. Until the dawn of independent
India’s rule, the region witnessed frequent border shifts & orientation,
while internal reorientation has continued through formation of new states and
autonomous councils as a response to security centric agendas and aspirations
of autonomy along ethnic cum indigenous lines. As per the design of partition in 1947, the NER shares borders with
multiple nations of southeast Asia. Therein the foreign policy of India holds
multiple ramifications for the northeast region. With options of India being
limited on the Western front due to unfriendly Pakistan, unstable Afghanistan
and turbulent middle-east, India has recently focused on expanding bilateral
ties with the eastern neighbours; though northeast India didn’t figure in
India’s Look East policy in the 1990s, around 2008 it has started to gain
importance in the imaginaries of India’s geopolitics as it aspires to shift
from security centric governance to trade centric governance in the
northeast. Tripura deserves a special mention with
regards to its proactive nature in engaging with its immediate foreign
neighbour . Thus the choice of the book title by veteran journalist Subir
Bhaumik has in a way acknowledged Tripura’s role by including Tripura’s capital
Agartala within the title.
‘The Agartala Doctrine’ brings
together a myriad range of articles which encompasses the local dynamics of the
region by focusing on Assam and Bhaumick’s own inputs on Tripura, and stretches
out to the multiple dynamics of foreign policies, sub-regional bodies like
ASEAN, BIMSTEC etc.[1] Bhaumik introduces the readers by giving a critical
overview of India’s recent foreign policy and how domestic politics also play a
pivotal role considering West Bengal and Tamil Nadu’s stance on international
issues. Bhaumik then goes into the detail of Tripura’s tryst with migration,
insurgency, ethnic autonomy and relation with Bangladesh and aims to formulate
few guiding principles of India’s foreign policy drawing from Tripura’s
experience. Bhaumik locates the success of the Tripura’s decision making in the
past and hence roots for the ‘Tripura Line’ for appropriate response of India’s
foreign policy which is actively pursuing the Eastern neighbours.
The first section includes two
essays; the one by senior journalist Samir Purakayasta discusses the different
issues of illegal migration from Bangladesh into Assam and their implications. It
discuses the line system, Liaqat-Nehru pact, Bangladesh War and the Assam
Accord 1985, all of which have inextricable link with migration in Assam. The
perception of migration in Assam has led to unkind reception of the Land
Boundary Agreement (LBA) involving swapping of enclaves. The author rightly
points out that it is imperative to locate the illegal migrants through
National Register of Citizens (NRC) and enhance the transit facilities through
Bangladesh to open up new avenues of communication and exchange for landlocked
northeast India. The other essay of the section by Bangladesh’s foreign
secretary Farooq Sobhan emphasizes on the shared destiny of India and
Bangladesh and gives a comprehensive list of suggestions for both the nations.
Sobhan cites the importance of the North Eastern Region: Vision 2020, prepared
by the DONER[2]
Ministry in the context of subregional cooperation in South Asia.
The second section takes up the
internal environment of northeast India and how it has negotiated with India’s
Look East policy. Laldinkima Sailo
points at the deficiencies of northeast India’s infrastructure and how it
impediments the region’s ability to unleash its full potential in almost every
sector. Sailo points out the renewed interest to open up the trade routes which
existed prior to the 1947 partition. Apprehension however remains as in how the
opening up of the economy would in turn affect the indigenous communities of the
region and their involvement in trade. Sailo goes into the strategic
compulsions of the Indian state which has influenced the governance of the
northeast region. Shashi Tharoor’s essay seeks to unravel the dynamics behind
India’s Look East policy and the regional groupings like BIMSTEC & BCIM[3].
Tharoor’s description of the historical linkages between India and Southeast
Asian nations is particularly enlightening. The essay focuses on India’s tie
with further east, such as Japan and South Korea and how they have over the
years been involved in different infrastructural projects in India. Tharoor
cautions against opening the Stilwell road as China is yet to recognize
Arunachal Pradesh as a part of India and flooding of Chinese goods in Indian
market is already a reality, he rather emphasizes the need of reorienting
internal infrastructures. The educational institutes like the IITs & IIMs[4]
need to unlock the potential of sending the human capitals to southeast Asian
nations. Sandeep Chakravorty’s essay goes into the subregional groupings in
length and focuses strongly on the India-Bangladesh-Myanmar continuum. He opines that the political turmoil around
the Rohingyas in Myanmar does have the potential to hamper the bonhomie between
the three nations. Chakravorty praises the initiatives taken by Mizoram to
develop their infrastructure with the help of World Bank.
The third section brings up
China’s role and involvement in the grid of India’s Look East policy. Baladas
Ghosal in his essay portrays the different moves of geopolitics between the two
nations based on India’s nuclear testing, Look East policy and India’s maritime
cooperation with USA-Japan. Resource extractions also emerges as issues of
contention if one observes China’s reaction to India’s oil exploration
activities in South China Sea with permits issues by Vietnam. Binoda Mishra and
Patricia Uberoi give exhaustive details of the BCIM Economic Corridor which is
supposed to serve as the only direct overland link between China and India.
Mishra opines that it’s important to integrate Bangladesh, northeast India,
Myanmar & Yunan province of China that were integrated economically &
culturally few decades back. The perception of relative gain is pivotal in
determining India’s role in BCIM, according to Mishra. Bertil Lintner’s essay
highlights the geopolitics competition between China & the Western powers
in Myanmar, the influence of which will be significant in shaping the regional
environment of India’s northeast though Look East. Lintner explores the USA’s
reaction towards the Look East policy and the subsequent Indo-USA navy drills
in the Andaman islands. The essay covers the political journey of Aung San Suu
Kyi in Myanmar and the levels of negotiation between her and the military
junta. The troika of China, USA and India heavily determines the political fate
of Mayanmar and Linter has prudently delved into the details of the troika’s
implications. The essay by Chinese research scholars Chen Lijun & Kong Can provides
China’s outlook towards regional cooperation, especially on the BCIM question.
The essay envisions that with proper coordination among the nations, the BCIM
regions can prosper immensely in the coming days; it emphasizes that the
markets and borders should be opened up, mutual understandings can be deepened
by exchange of education, tourism, health care etc. What marks the essay apart
from the other essays on China in this section that it absolutely bypasses the
geopolitical complexities of the relations among the BCIM countries; liberalizing
the different aspects of economy and border seems to be the panacea in the
Lijun & Can’s thesis. It might be the case that relative comparative
advantage of China on different sectors over its immediate neighbour has led to
downplaying the issues of border conflicts and geopolitical equations.
The fourth section investigates
how states have shaped Chinese, Russian & USA foreign policies. Jabin T
Jacob in his essay deals with how Chinese states of Yunnan & Xinjiang have
influenced China’s foreign policy. Jacob does a comprehensive enquiry into the
state structures of India & China and the level of autonomy the states of
the respective countries possess in foreign dealings. The comparison of Gujarat
with Guandong gives a comparative provincial experience and the increasing
importance of sub-nationalist actors in Indo-China interactions &
exchanges. Aditi Bhaduri in her essay deals with the tate’s role in erstwhile
Soviet Union and later Russia; she focuses on the issue of federalism in
foreign policy & points to the need of balance between national & local
concerns. In a similar line Edward Downie presents the role of states in USA’s
foreign policy. In the concluding section Subir Bhaumik lobbies for
multi-alignment with the powers of USA, China & Russia rather than
non-alignment for India. How India positions itself in the geopolitical
landscape of Southeast Asia would determine its ability to exercise strategic
autonomy in the global arena. It’s imperative that the states of northeast
India develops a close relationship with its neighbouring countries, like
Tripura has done with Bangladesh, in order to reduce the dependence on the
faraway states like Gujarat or Maharashtra for both manufactured goods and
markets for the products of the region. In this regards, Bhoumik asserts, that
it’s vital to tap the Chinese markets, which would attract manufacturing units
in northeast India.
The Agartala Doctrine gives a sense of the reality of foreign
policies of India with regards to its eastern neighbours. It exhibits the challenges
& opportunities that need to be considered in formulating and executing of
India’s further agendas. Economics apart, the policies would also have an
impact on the issues of insurgency in northeast. Therein, ‘The Aagrtala Doctrine’ gives the reader with the ground to top
level approaches to the issues and basic guidelines to the states of India on
how to influence the foreign policy of the nation, much like what Tripura has
been successfully practicing since independence.
[1] ASEAN –Association of South East Asian
Nations, BIMSTEC – Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and
Economic Cooperation.
[2]
DONER – Ministry of the Development of
the Northeast Region
[3]
BCIM – Bangladesh-China-India –Myanmar
[4]
IIT – Indian Institute of Technology, IIM- Indian Institute of Management
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