The "India Factor" in Indo-Bangladesh Relations
Taj Hashmi
Professor, APCSS, Honolulu, USA
One wonders as to why Sheikh Hasina and the admirers of her latest "gesture of good will" towards India are not cognizant of the "India Doctrine" at all. Cultivated assiduously by most Indian leaders from Nehru to Manmohan Singh (V.P. Singh and I.K.Gujral were possibly the only exceptions in this regard), this doctrine stands for two things: a) establishing Vrihat Bharat (Greater India) with a view to asserting Indian hegemony in the Indian Ocean and b) to extract maximum economic benefits and political leverage from smaller neighbours by intimidating them on a regular basis. As the act of not recalling Nehru's not-so-hidden desire to undo the Partition of 1947 is a political blunder, particularly for Pakistan Bangladesh; so is forgetting about India's annexation of Kashmir (1947), Hyderabad (1948), Goa (1961) and even independent Sikkim (1975).
FULL ARTICLE
http://deshcalling.blogspot.com/2010/01/india-factor-in-indo-bangladesh.html
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