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On this special Christmas edition of the Democratic Newsroom, the panel debates whether India has faltered in its foreign policy, particularly concerning its neighbors. The discussion focuses heavily on the volatile situation in Bangladesh, with speakers highlighting the rise of radical Islamist forces and the challenges posed to India’s interests. While one perspective argues that India is taking a long-term view and has successfully engaged with neighbors like Sri Lanka and the Maldives, another view suggests India was 'caught napping' regarding the rapid unraveling of stability in Bangladesh. The programme also touches on the broader geopolitical dynamics in South Asia, including the influence of China and the need for India to remain a stable, secular democracy to maintain influence. The debate concludes with a look ahead to 2026, hoping for better stability in the region.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Good evening, welcome, and a very Merry Christmas to all our viewers.
00:04Welcome to yet another edition of the Democratic Newsroom.
00:07We come to you on Christmas Day, but with not such a festive topic.
00:12What are we debating this evening?
00:14Well, Bangladesh is on the boil.
00:16And the question that we put forward for debate in the Democratic Newsroom is,
00:21has India got its foreign policy wrong, especially with its neighbors?
00:25All right, let's kickstart with Gaurav Savant.
00:28Gaurav, you want to go ahead first?
00:30It's a Christmas miracle.
00:34Hallelujah.
00:36I think India is taking a long-term view of whatever is happening in Bangladesh,
00:40and I don't think India's policy with our neighbors, not just Bangladesh,
00:44but look at the way Sri Lanka is now thanking India for India's help,
00:49not just in the cyclone relief, but also in reconstruction.
00:53Also, when Sri Lanka defaulted, India was the first country that came forward and helped.
00:57That's India's responsibility.
00:59And India's fulfilling that responsibility.
01:01Look at the neighborhood.
01:02Look at Maldives.
01:03You know, when they came on an India out plank, things just turned around.
01:07Because, you know, election rhetoric is one part.
01:10When you wake up, you smell the coffee, you realize this is the Indian subcontinent.
01:15India is powerful.
01:16India is strong.
01:17India, you grow with India.
01:19But if you abuse India, there are consequences.
01:22And if you kill Hindus in Bangladesh, there will be consequences.
01:25And that's unacceptable in this neighborhood.
01:27India is happy to help.
01:29Even now, Bangladesh wants rice.
01:31Bangladesh to survive needs India.
01:33Flanked by India on all sides.
01:34But then you can't kill Hindus.
01:35You can't target the Indian mission.
01:37You can't have radical Islamists who will abuse India
01:39and then expect India to bend over and, you know, roll over and play dead.
01:43All right.
01:44Okay.
01:45Rajdeep on that festive note.
01:47Look, I think, first of all, I think before you look at what has India got wrong
01:51with its foreign policy in the context of Bangladesh, look at what Bangladesh has got wrong.
01:56You see, here, you know, here is a country which was avowedly seeking itself
02:01through its cultural identity, the linguistic identity.
02:06And today finds itself in the grip of an element of Islamic radicalism, which is dangerous.
02:12It is a country with a political vacuum, with an interim government that is struggling
02:16to hold these various forces together.
02:20So the real problems are in Bangladesh itself.
02:23India is getting the blowback of it.
02:25But let's be honest.
02:26I think we got caught napping.
02:28We did not expect the events that took place last year in July, August to spiral out of control
02:34to the point where we suddenly had to almost airlift Sheikh Hasina and give her safe exile
02:40in India.
02:42And it's not the first instance in the neighborhood.
02:43I don't think we anticipated the kind of…
02:46Sri Lanka.
02:47Sri Lanka, Pakistan.
02:48We didn't anticipate the manner in which General Aseem Munir was going to virtually take
02:53over the country in the way he has.
02:55We were hopeful.
02:56We were hopeful for a while.
02:57No, really?
02:58No, I think we were hopeful for a while.
02:59We were hopeful for a while that with election held as it was last year with Shahbaz Sharif
03:07coming to power.
03:07But that Munir would turn out to be this kind of anti-Indian force.
03:12But let's not get into Pakistan.
03:13We are talking about Bangladesh.
03:14No, because everyone had Pakistan and Munir absolutely right.
03:18He's a radical Islamist and everyone in India, except those who look at Pakistan with rose-tinted
03:24glasses, except anybody who looks at Pakistan with rose-tinted glasses, everyone's right.
03:29Okay, Rajdeep, make your point.
03:31Then I'll go to Geetha.
03:32Let's not talk over each other.
03:33Geetha, let's not talk over each other.
03:35Let him finish.
03:35He's not talking about the fact.
03:38I'm not toasted.
03:39Yeah, he's not.
03:40He's just saying that nobody anticipated consolidation of power.
03:43Exactly.
03:44Okay, allow him to finish.
03:46I'll come to you, Geetha.
03:46Make your point.
03:47The fact is, in my view, whether it's Bangladesh, where I believe we got caught napping in the
03:52sense we didn't anticipate the chain of events that would take place so dramatically.
03:56We'd put all our eggs, perhaps rightly so at that time.
03:59In Sheikh Hasina's basket.
04:01We had an excellent relationship with Bangladesh for a decade.
04:04We didn't anticipate the anger that was boiling within Bangladesh.
04:08Let's be clear.
04:09There is anger that was boiling in and it erupted like lava.
04:12We didn't anticipate, I believe, the manner in which the centralization of power would
04:16take place along this one individual rabid anti-Indian Islamist in General Asir Munir.
04:22I don't think we anticipated the kind of economic collapse that would eventually lead to the Rajapakshas
04:26fleeing Sri Lanka a few years ago.
04:28And we didn't for a while even anticipate the events going on in tiny Maldives.
04:32We may have clawed back in some of those.
04:35It's not easy.
04:36It's a volatile, hostile neighborhood.
04:38I think, therefore, we need to handle Bangladesh in particular with care because it's been one
04:44of the few countries with which we've had a strong, stable relationship over the last
04:48day.
04:49Okay, I want to go to Geeta.
04:50She looks at foreign affairs.
04:51Yeah, she'll know more.
04:52She'll know more.
04:53She looks at foreign affairs.
04:54She has also delivered a superb interview for us by the end of the year of Mr. Putin.
04:58But go ahead.
04:58They all have an opinion and they all have covered foreign policy very closely.
05:02But I'm just saying it's not about getting our policies wrong, Gaurav, to your point
05:08on Bangladesh that we will not go ahead and engage Bangladesh if they continue.
05:16I never said we are not engaging.
05:18I said we are not.
05:19I never said that we will not engage.
05:20You said we will not.
05:21India is engaged with whoever is in power for keeping our interests active in any country.
05:27No, but you just said.
05:28No, I never said that we will not engage.
05:30Yeah, we will not go to.
05:31Yeah, you said we will not sleep if we will not go to bed with minorities being attacked
05:37in.
05:38We are not comfortable with that.
05:39No, you did not say comfortable.
05:40No, I didn't say we will not engage with them at all.
05:42But I'm quoting you.
05:43You said we are not going to go to bed.
05:44Anyway, you can replay that.
05:45Looking, yeah.
05:45You can replay that, okay?
05:47Go back and listen to what he said.
05:49But I'm just saying that India needs to engage all these countries.
05:53Like it or not, whether we were caught napping or not, we need to engage all of them.
05:58They are very important neighbors.
06:00And for us, the biggest trouble with Bangladesh today is that, yes, they are radical Islamist
06:05forces who are now controlling the country.
06:07How is India going to manage and navigate this relationship given the fact that the West is
06:15also turning a blind eye has become a problem for us.
06:17Okay.
06:18That is our biggest problem right now.
06:20There are no checks for a UNIS administration doing what they want to and how they are doing
06:25it.
06:25Somebody has to look and say, well, we are not going to engage with you.
06:29India has to, but the other countries, because you are doing what you are doing.
06:33And that hasn't happened.
06:34By the way, we missed out Nepal when we spoke about a hostile, fragile neighborhood.
06:38Yes.
06:39So I see this as more of a mixed bag with several successes and challenges, not setbacks.
06:46And India has a geographical disadvantage.
06:49You have a long LAC and a LOC.
06:52And these are very, very hostile neighbors with the history of wars also with them.
06:58But I see over a period, India has managed to ensure security cooperation and important
07:04groupings like the SARC and the BIMSTEC.
07:06But at the same time, there are economic cooperation also, which is happening with Bangladesh.
07:12And just to give that figure, because I have the notes, Preeti, you have objections to the
07:16notes.
07:16No, no, I have no objections.
07:17Bangladesh is India's largest trade partner in South Asia.
07:24And also, India's, you know, neighborhood first policy has also yielded results in terms
07:31of extradition treaty, which was signed in 2013, which ensured that there is a marked improvement
07:36in internal security in Assam, Tripura and Meghalaya.
07:40So there are cooperations which have happened and it has yielded results.
07:44To say that it has failed or it has not failed may not be correct.
07:48It is a mixed bag with lots of successes and some challenges which we are seeing with the
07:53kind of internal domestic issues which are playing out in these countries.
07:56No, I have no problem with your notes.
08:00I see Rajdeep, he is scrolling away on his phone.
08:03So, go ahead.
08:05I have no notes.
08:06But I think what's happened in Bangladesh, if you look at it, there's so much of turmoil,
08:11there's so much of political instability that I think the way India is handling it right
08:15now in the last few months, India showed a great amount of restraint.
08:18But at the same time, made it very clear that India also does need good ties with Bangladesh.
08:23You know, no one's denying the fact that India and Bangladesh need to work together.
08:26Bangladesh needs India too.
08:28There's no doubt about it.
08:29But having said that, I think what Gaurav referred to the example of Maldives, you know,
08:33India took it in the long run a bit.
08:35There was a lot of this talk of, you know, India out, the campaign that had happened.
08:39But India showed restraint then too.
08:41You know, we put the focus on beyond that, on economic ties, on helping them during disasters.
08:46So, I think even in this case, as far as Bangladesh goes, maybe we're jumping the gun and going
08:50ahead and asking the question about how India has dealt with it.
08:52It's still an ongoing statement.
08:54And that is what good neighbours do and good relationships mean that you have to be the
08:59safe haven for a prime minister.
09:02Look at Afghanistan, for example.
09:04Afghanistan has a regime that India wasn't comfortable with.
09:08But it looked to help the people of Afghanistan.
09:11And India, because we have civilizational ties with the people of Afghanistan,
09:14India is also engaging with the Taliban, who we don't even recognize.
09:18I don't think we're doing it.
09:19Gaurav, one second.
09:19I don't think we're engaging with Pakistan for the people of Afghanistan.
09:23We're doing it for Afghanistan for the people of Afghanistan.
09:27I think we're doing it.
09:28No, Gaurav, we're doing it for our own strategic importance vis-a-vis-a-vis-a-vis-a-vis-a-vis-a-vis-a-vis.
09:33That is one part of it.
09:35But there's also a civilizational ties because people also see through it.
09:38You see, when you have a healthcare system there, which is still running, which they
09:43still want you to come, when you're helping them with food, when you're helping them,
09:46you know, when Pakistan bullies them with sending them substandard rice and makes them
09:50beg for rice.
09:52India provides it.
09:53We're doing it for geopolitical reasons, Gaurav.
09:55We're not doing it for the people of Afghanistan.
09:58You may think so.
10:00There is a human angle to it.
10:01There is a human angle to it that you may choose to play down.
10:04But there are other aspects.
10:05Nobody's choosing to play down.
10:06You could have...
10:07Okay, forget it.
10:08Make your point.
10:09So there are other things that come into play.
10:11India has helped every neighbor.
10:13And the Prime Minister from day one has said it's neighborhood first.
10:16We'll help every country.
10:17So that the entire region moves together.
10:21Can I just come in here for a bit?
10:22You know, the biggest problem our neighbors have with us, and especially us journalists
10:26also, is the fact that we keep saying India helped.
10:29India helps.
10:30India is extending help.
10:32That is their perception.
10:33I'm sorry that there's nothing wrong in saying that.
10:35But Gaurav, be the bigger us, that we should be extending assistance, providing development
10:42or helping in development work and development projects should be looked at.
10:47as two partners working together, rather than just India helping.
10:52Oh, they did not come to the rescue, so India helped.
10:55That's a real problem.
10:57But when I travel to these countries, Maria, when I travel to these countries, people actually
11:02complain about, how much can you talk about you helping us, we're this small little country.
11:07We know we're small.
11:08We know we need your assistance and help.
11:10So that's a fact that we need to read this.
11:12But Gita, there is a geopolitical, you're exactly saying that.
11:15Exactly.
11:15I'm just telling Akshita, I'm telling you exactly how it resonates in the country.
11:20But Gita, there is a geopolitical order.
11:25You have some of these countries where China is covertly backing.
11:28So you've got to, you have to set very hard red lines as well.
11:32All of these countries.
11:33Including Bangladesh.
11:34Exactly.
11:35Including Bangladesh.
11:35So our biggest, largest defense deal with Abhij.
11:39Absolutely.
11:40The truth of the moment, the truth I believe, but I'm looking again at India, Bangladesh.
11:44I maintain over the last decade from 2014 to 2024, you could count Bangladesh among India's
11:50foreign policy successes.
11:52There were various achievements India made in terms of extradition, trade ties, improved
11:57relations between the two countries and people to people contact.
12:01But the fact is that what's happened in the last 15 months is that you've had radical
12:06elements growing in Bangladesh.
12:08You've got leaders, for example, who say that they will give refuge to separatists of
12:13the Seven Sisters.
12:14We could isolate India, Northeastern states.
12:17Those comments get magnified in today's social media age.
12:21And in India, you've got rabid elements who every time any incident takes place in Bangladesh,
12:26terrible as it may, will tar the entire country with it.
12:30And it's feeding on the paranoias on insecurities of both countries.
12:34Therefore, you're playing with fire.
12:35I'm sorry.
12:36That's false comparison.
12:37Just a minute.
12:38My worry is that we are entering into the same, just look at the events in the last 48
12:45hours.
12:46It reminds me of what has happened, unfortunately, at times with Pakistan.
12:50We've gone, they've gone, called our high commission and said, you've got to provide
12:53security to our high commission in Delhi.
12:55We've gone and read out the riot act to them.
12:59All of this is dangerous when you've got the rise of Islamist groups within Bangladesh.
13:05So what do you mean, you want to do sajda, you want to do sajda to terror.
13:07No, no, it's not a sajda.
13:09Just a minute.
13:09No, no.
13:10Let's get it straight.
13:11One minute.
13:11I am not here.
13:12Just a minute.
13:12No, no.
13:13Gaurav, you must let people finish and then you are welcome to.
13:17The fact is, when you are dealing with such elements and I do believe that a large number
13:23of people in Bangladesh still do not want to go down the way that the Islamists will take
13:27them.
13:27The Jamaat has never been a successful force in Bangladesh.
13:31Not even in elections.
13:33Yeah, that's right.
13:33In elections in particular.
13:34If that is changing, India is faced with a serious foreign policy challenge.
13:39And the last thing you want in that situation is more rabid voices in this country saying
13:45Bangladeshi hai, Bangladeshi hai.
13:47You don't want that that plays out in that country to the paranoias and insecurities.
13:51You should ever do sajda to terrorist elements.
13:53Let's be very clear about that.
13:55No, you are not a radical Islamist side.
13:56You must call us pay the space.
13:58I am the only one who is not being allowed to speak.
14:00Okay, Gita, one second.
14:02What is this sajda?
14:03Okay, guys, I need the gavel when I need you.
14:05Okay, festive chair.
14:06It's Christmas.
14:07Come on.
14:07Let's be very clear.
14:08The topic is more serious than that.
14:10It's not just the case of one Hindu being targeted or murdered this time.
14:14It's systematically been happening under Muhammad Yunus's regime.
14:17But it's not just Hindus.
14:18What and you know Bangladesh well and Bengal well.
14:22What is happening in Bangladesh right now?
14:24Look at the way Chaya not was targeted.
14:26Rabindra Sangeet.
14:27You said Muslims have died in Bangladesh.
14:29Rabindra Sangeet.
14:30No, but this is true.
14:31Okay, their color, their architecture.
14:32Agreed.
14:33So, you know, their culture.
14:34That is being targeted.
14:35So, it must be called out.
14:37It must be called out unequivocally.
14:40It is scary.
14:41Oh, what will the radical Islamist think?
14:43Let us not call it a policy.
14:44No, but nobody is doing that.
14:46Nobody is doing that.
14:47Geeta, one second.
14:49Geeta, Allah.
14:49He's saying, what would no radical Islamist think?
14:50Nobody can hear.
14:51He's saying, what would no radical Islamist think?
14:52Geeta, who have had great ties with India.
14:54Okay, one second.
14:54Nobody can hear.
14:55Please, guys.
14:56Okay.
14:56Bangladesh is an important country.
14:56Geeta, one at a time.
14:58Hard cut.
14:58One at a time.
14:59India's neighborhood first policy has delivered tangibles.
15:03There are challenges, as Rajdeep has pointed out rightly.
15:06There are some needs, perhaps need of course correction.
15:08But, let's not forget that India chose to back stability and decided to work with the elected
15:16government, the interim government of Mohammed Yunus because India thought that was the
15:21best way.
15:21Even as it became a safe haven for Sheikh Hasina.
15:25It did both at the same time.
15:26I don't think there's been any overreaction to me, to what's happened.
15:30If a Hindu has been lynched, if there's been a targeted killing in Bangladesh, we need to
15:33call it out.
15:33Of course, and we do call it out.
15:35So, I don't think there's an overreaction at all from India.
15:37I think there are rabid elements in Bangladesh, yes, who are making extremely, you know, scary
15:42remarks, honestly, because what will it mean also for the India-Bangladesh relationship?
15:46I don't think there have been any comments really that have come in from India where
15:49you can say that, you know, these are fueling further the hate and things like that.
15:54What's happened in Bangladesh in the last few days?
15:56In the last few days, what's happened in Bangladesh needs to be called out.
15:59It has been targeted violence.
16:01So, who's not calling it out?
16:02Rajdeep was saying it.
16:03No, no, one minute.
16:04You made a distinction.
16:06One minute, one minute.
16:06No, no, I'm talking about people who...
16:08It's not binaries like that.
16:09No, no.
16:09You know, make your point.
16:11My limited point is we live in extreme, in a turbulent neighborhood.
16:15Sure.
16:16Let's be honest.
16:17For you, for us to say in generalized terms, Hindus are being targeted across Bangladesh is
16:21a very dangerous comment to make in my view.
16:24But it is true.
16:25There have been cases.
16:25One minute.
16:26There have been Muslims whose houses have been set up, the entire awami leadership's houses have
16:30been targeted.
16:31Please understand.
16:32Just a minute.
16:33Just a minute.
16:33Allow God of God.
16:34Just a minute.
16:34You had you say, allow.
16:35We've had elements in this country also.
16:38Extremist elements in this country also who have done great, brought great shame and embarrassment
16:44to India.
16:44But why are you enjoying a comparison?
16:45No, no, no.
16:46One minute.
16:46Because this is not about comparison.
16:49This is about realizing that we have to ensure that we are seen as a stable, a secular, stable
17:00democracy.
17:01And the more we are able to do that, the more influence we will have across the neighborhood.
17:05Okay, Gita, one second.
17:07Okay, you are saying false equivalence.
17:09Okay, make a point.
17:10Gita, I'm just going to go back to India, Bangladesh because it is a very important and a very serious
17:16issue right now.
17:17I don't think a lot of people realize and we've all been talking about how Bangladesh is important
17:22and there's a Sheikh Hasina government that allowed that to happen.
17:26Please do not forget and go back to the Zia regime and you'll realize Begum Khalida Zia's
17:30regime had brought about the kind of instability in the northeast because of the kind of safe havens
17:37she provided to terrorists from the northeast.
17:40And they could be coming back to power.
17:41And they could be coming.
17:42That is the scare over here.
17:45There's scaremongering but we should be cautious and scared.
17:47We're reaching the end but Gita, what are you going to know?
17:49How are you spending Christmas?
17:50So, I'll be reporting, I'll be at work.
17:53I'll be at work both on Christmas and on New Year's Eve and on the New Year's Day because
17:57that's how I like to start my New Year's Day but I will keep the focus very squarely on
18:02how India is dealing with the neighborhood and I think it's very nimble-footed.
18:07Any situation that develops…
18:08So, no Christmas cake?
18:10India responds, of course Christmas cake.
18:12I'm very happy though I don't eat meatha but…
18:14Really?
18:14That's what you say.
18:15Okay, this is our…
18:16Oh, okay, sure.
18:18Rajdeep.
18:18Okay, some days.
18:19It tries not to.
18:22It tries not to.
18:23Look, I will have all the Christmas festivities.
18:26Someone has sent me some wonderful cake and some mulled wine, all of that.
18:29But, you know, I want to get a little nostalgic.
18:32One of my…
18:33One of the joys I used to have in covering…
18:36The limited occasion that I went across the neighborhood was for SARK summits.
18:40Yes.
18:40And particularly in places like Kathmandu to see leaders from across…
18:43To meet journalists from across the South Asian region, Pakistanis, Nepalis, Sri Lankans was great.
18:50And that hasn't happened for 11 years and I feel it's unfortunate.
18:54Remember, Narendra Modi was sworn in in 2014 by inviting all the leaders of South Asia.
18:59All right, look, if you've got to be reached the end, Rajdeep, again come back to the debate.
19:03Agreed.
19:04I promise, I am not.
19:05Well, we are just hoping that all of you have very happy holidays.
19:09Have a great Christmas and New Year.
19:10New Year.
19:11And I hope South Asia is full of good cheer in 2026.
19:13On that note, thank you for watching.
19:34New Year.
19:36luck.
19:3810
19:44New Year
19:50new year
19:55new year
19:59new year
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