A fresh look at neighbourly relations

This is from The Intersection column that appears every other Monday in Mint. It is clear that India’s relationship with the countries in its neighbourhood is at an impasse. There are many reasons for this: global power shifts, political changes in neighbouring countries, the externalities of our domestic politics and, well, chance. There are new governments in Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, while the one in Maldives has tempered down after a few years in office. A young king in Bhutan has new ideas. There is a new spring in the Pakistani government’s step, as its military leader enjoys international limelight after the country spent nearly 15 years out in the cold. New Delhi’s relations with each of these countries could, to put it gently, be better. Given the mess that world politics is in, it might be a good time to reset the way New Delhi engages with them. Indeed, the impasse might be an empirical signal that policy change is necessary. Twenty years ago, I was among those who…