India’s Hindutva policies push Bangladesh away
Delhi threatens Dhaka over sovereign foreign policy choices
New Delhi: India’s increasingly coercive neighbourhood policy under the Hindutva-driven government is facing growing challenges as Bangladesh asserts its right to pursue an independent foreign policy and deepen ties with Pakistan, China and other Asian countries.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Bangladesh’s openness to joining the Joint Makkah Agreement has triggered alarm in Indian strategic circles, with threats of economic pressure and the use of water resources being cited as possible instruments to influence Dhaka’s choices.
The development reflects the consequences of India’s flawed regional policies, which have increasingly sought to keep neighbouring countries within New Delhi’s strategic orbit rather than treating them as sovereign and equal partners.
Bangladesh’s Look East policy and its efforts to strengthen relations with Pakistan, China and other Asian states are being portrayed by Indian strategic voices as the emergence of an “eastern front”. Such rhetoric, analysts say, reveals growing Indian insecurity over Bangladesh’s pursuit of strategic autonomy.
The reported threats to employ economic and water leverage against Bangladesh also expose the coercive character of New Delhi’s approach to its neighbours. Instead of building trust through dialogue, cooperation and mutual respect, India’s policy increasingly appears to rely on its geographic, economic and strategic advantages as instruments of pressure.
Bangladesh, which emerged as an independent country in 1971, has the sovereign right to determine its diplomatic partnerships and national interests without seeking approval from New Delhi. Its expanding engagement with other regional powers is therefore a legitimate exercise of foreign policy rather than an act of hostility against India.
The episode also underscores the widening regional fallout of Hindutva-era policies, which have strained India’s relations with several neighbours and contributed to perceptions of India as an increasingly domineering regional power.
India’s portrayal of an independent Bangladesh as a security challenge merely because Dhaka refuses strategic subordination further exposes the contradictions in New Delhi’s “Neighbourhood First” policy.
The emerging tensions demonstrate that sustainable regional influence cannot be secured through threats, economic pressure or control over shared resources. India must respect Bangladesh as a sovereign equal and replace coercion with genuine dialogue, cooperation and mutual respect if it wants to rebuild trust across South Asia.
