India’s Bilateral Relations with Bangladesh and Myanmar: 75 Years of Cooperation and Challenges

This paper provides an overview of India’s diplomatic relations with its neighbouring countries, Bangladesh and Myanmar, spanning 75 years. Since gaining independence from British colonial rule, India has shared a unique historical, cultural, and geographical bond with both Bangladesh and Myanmar. Over the years, these ties have been marked by a mixture of cooperation, mutual understanding, and, at times, tensions. India naturally wishes to maintain good neighbourly relations with her neighbours owing to its national geopolitical, geostrategic, and geo-economic interests. Upon gaining independence with the help of India in 1971, both Bangladesh and India were on good terms. India was one of the first countries to recognize Bangladesh as an independent state and established diplomatic relations with the country even before December 16, when Bangladesh was liberated from the Pakistani occupation army. Bangladesh and India have long shared the common objective of maintaining close political, economic, strategic, and cultural ties. Similarly, India-Myanmar relations are founded on common historical, ethnic, cultural, and religious ties. India and Myanmar share a long land border of over 1600 km and a maritime boundary in the Bay of Bengal. A large population of Indian origin (according to some estimates, about 2.5 million) lives in Myanmar. In 1951, a Treaty of Friendship was signed between India and Myanmar. India has economic interests in maintaining cordial relations with Myanmar’s military as the country has natural resources, including natural gas, petroleum, and rare earth metals useful for India’s high-tech industry. Throughout these 75 years, India has continuously sought to play a constructive role in promoting regional stability and economic development. Bilateral and multilateral initiatives have been undertaken to strengthen trade, connectivity, and counter-terrorism efforts in the region. India’s Act East Policy has also aimed to enhance cooperation with its Southeast Asian neighbours, with Bangladesh and Myanmar being pivotal partners in this endeavour. Nevertheless, several challenges persist, including unresolved border issues, migration concerns, and the Rohingya refugee crisis. The Rohingya crisis has already created several security threats for Bangladesh as well as India. In this article, the diplomatic, trade, strategic, and cultural dimensions of India’s neighbourhood policy with Bangladesh and Myanmar over the past 75 years have been discussed. This paper analyses the cooperative relations and the challenges faced by all three nations. Finally, this paper examines how the cooperation and challenges faced during this period have shaped the dynamic and ever-evolving nature of these relationships, leaving a profound impact on the broader South Asian region.