"The leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, has come up with a convoluted argument to justify the BJP's unfortunate opposition to the long overdue land boundary settlement with Bangladesh. From a technical perspective, Jaitley's objections on constitutional grounds will be laughed out of court. From the perspective of India's national interest, Jaitley's argument reveals how far the BJP has drifted from common sense.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had signed a protocol to the 1974 land boundary agreement during his visit to Dhaka in September 2011. Since then, the UPA government has struggled to mobilise political support for the constitutional amendment required to implement the agreement. It finally introduced the 119th Constitutional Amendment Bill in the Rajya Sabha last week. Parliamentary approval of the bill will clean up the territorial ambiguities in the east left by the partition of the subcontinent, vastly improve India's ability to manage its eastern frontiers, facilitate expansive transborder economic cooperation with Bangladesh, transform political relations with Dhaka and alter India's geopolitical condition.
If it was bad enough for the BJP to undermine a historic opportunity with Bangladesh, Jaitley has made it worse by dressing up the party's nihilism in a constitutional cloak. Jaitley cited the Kesavananda Bharati case in which the Supreme Court had ruled that Parliament had no right to amend the basic structure of the Constitution. In a letter to the chairman of the Rajya Sabha earlier this month, Jaitley declared that the "territory of India is a part of the Constitution. It cannot be reduced or altered by an amendment to the Constitution". In response, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid rightly argued that "India, as a sovereign state, has an inherent right to acquire foreign territories or alter or cede its territories and to suggest that it does not, would be contrary to
national interest."
The BJP may have many narrow political considerations in opposing the bill, especially in the light of resistance from its state party units as well as the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and the Asom Gana Parishad in Assam. If the BJP stands by Jaitley's illogic, it must necessarily oppose any negotiation of India's land boundary disputes with any of its neighbours, including China, Pakistan and Nepal. If this is a considered position of a party that is in striking distance of power, one shudders to think what the foreign policy of a BJP government might look like.
Vajpayee's legacy
If the Manmohan Singh government has failed to make solid political arguments in defence of its major foreign policy initiatives, the BJP has, over the last decade, shown little conviction or commitment to any principle. Reflexive opposition to the government, irrespective of national interest, has become the norm for the BJP.
Whether it was the nuclear deal with the US or engaging the neighbours, the BJP appears to have abandoned the legacy of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. When the Jana Sangh merged with the Janata Party, it called for a "good neighbourly" policy. As foreign minister in the Janata government, Vajpayee strove to improve India's relations with all neighbours, including Pakistan and Bangladesh and sought to normalise relations with China. As prime minister, Vajpayee boldly departed from traditional thinking and explored peace settlements with Islamabad and Beijing. Although his government did not succeed, his political courage cleared a lot of difficult ground for his successors.
Will and vision
The national leadership of the BJP has squandered a big moment to help redefine India's relations with Bangladesh and exercise leadership on an important national security issue. As a result, Delhi has let down the one leader in the subcontinent, Sheikh Hasina, who has bravely confronted extremists and gone out of the way to cooperate with India on combating terrorism.
It is a pity that Manmohan Singh, who persisted with Vajpayee's regional policies, did not get enough support from the Congress for his initiatives towards the neighbours. The national leadership of the BJP, in turn, appears to have no positive foreign policy agenda at all. The lack of political will in the Congress and the vision deficit in the BJP, combined with their temptation to put the tactical above the strategic, bode ill for India's regional policy. At a moment when the subcontinent is entering a turbulent phase and needs strong Indian leadership, the Congress and the BJP appear to have run out of steam.
(The writer is a distinguished fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, Delhi and a contributing editor for 'The Indian Express')
Courtesy: The Indian Express, December 25, 2013"
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