Abstract
This chapter examines Bangladesh’s relations with India from 1985 to 1990 and evaluates the impact of India’s regional and domestic concerns on the relationship between the two states. The period covers both the remainder of Hussain Muhammad Ershad’s regime and the post-Indira prime ministership of Rajiv Gandhi, a stage in Indo-Bangladesh relations on which very little research has been done. The second half of the 1980s was characterised by an unprecedented movement towards South Asian regional cooperation and this chapter will assess the extent to which the trend impinged on Indo-Bangladesh relations.
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Notes and References
In 1980, the share of intra-SAARC trade of the SAARC member countries was on average only 3.2 per cent. By 1989, the figure had actually dropped — to 2.9 per cent. ‘SAARC Regional Study on Trade, Manufactures and Services’, cited in, S.D. Muni (ed.), Understanding South Asia: Essays in the Memory of Late Professor (Mrs) Urmila Phadnis, New Delhi, 1994, p. 231.
For details of the reasons for the shift in India’s foreign policy, see Harish Kapur, ‘India’s Foreign Policy Under Rajiv Gandhi’, The Round Table, vol. 304, 1987, pp. 469–79.
A. Kapur, ‘Indian Foreign Policy: Perspectives and Present Predicaments’, The Round Table, vol. 295, 1985, p. 236.
S. Ganguly, ‘The Prime Minister and Foreign and Defence Policies’, in J. Manor (ed.), Nehru to the Nineties: The Changing Office of Prime Minister in India, London, 1994, p. 155.
B. Crow et al., Sharing the Ganges: The Politics and Technology of River Development, New Delhi, 1995, p. 201.
B.G. Verghese, Waters of Hope: Integrated Water Resource Development and Regional Cooperation within the Himalayan-Ganga-Brahmaputra-Barak Basin, New Delhi, 1990, p. 366.
For a summary, see S. Wolpert, A New History of India, 4th edn, New York, 1993, pp. 426–7. According to Wolpert, Rajiv ousted the finance minister, V.P. Singh from the cabinet because of Singh’s attempts to uncover embarrassing and corrupt government dealings, such as the Bofors defense contract.
Joint Rivers Commission, Dhaka, ‘Position Paper on the Issues of the Memorandum of Understanding of November 1985’, 19.3.87, cited in Begum, Tension over the Farakka Barrage: A Techno-Political Tangle in South Asia, Stuttgart, 1988, p. 248.
For a summary, see S.D. Muni, Pangs of Proximity: India and Sri Lanka’s Ethnic Crisis, New Delhi, 1993, pp. 76–83.
For details of Indo-Pakistani relations at that time see S. Yasmeen, ‘India and Pakistan: Why the Latest Exercise in Brinkmanship?’, Australian Journal of Politics and History, vol. 34, no. 1, 1988/89, pp. 64–72.
R. Thakur, ‘India After Nonalignment’, Foreign Affairs, Spring, 1992, p. 171.
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© 2000 Kathryn Jacques
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Jacques, K. (2000). 1985–90: The ‘New Era’ of Regional Amity and Cooperation. In: Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780333982488_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780333982488_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-41125-2
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