Random thoughts on India’s East: It’s astounding how Burma’s self-imposed isolation & discriminatory citizenship laws dislocated India’s eastward thrust and outreach. Even more astonishing is how little this is acknowledged in existing literature. 1/n
From being critical to India’s Non-Aligned strategy, & economic connectivity w/ SE Asia —& long before Look/Act East were coined— Burma’s (erroneously, if understandably) strategic value in N. Delhi was vastly reduced. Isolation cost Burma much, but it cost India a lot too. 2/n
Reading Parliamentary debates on how India wanted to settle returnees from Burma makes v. grim reading. Again, understandable why N. Delhi took the decisions it did, but amazing how little the long-term consequences of the same were discussed. 3/n
Members of the communities who were exiled from Burma wld contribute in India’s (mis)calculations in late-1980s & early-90s on the 8888 movement, engaging the junta, and much else. Again, understandable but deeply sub-optimal outcomes. 4/n
Sadly, the trend has not really changed even after Look/Act East, & BJP’s increased pol. outreach in NE & ideological parallel w/ Buddhist nationalism in Myanmar. India is there, but not really. Sometimes I feel I should author a piece titled ‘India: A Sub-Optimal Power’. 5/n
... & focus only on India’s neighbourhood. Such a rich, (strategically & otherwise) important, and understudied area.
