Despite having close cultural, social and economic ties spanning millennia, countries in South Asia seem to be embroiled in a never-ending display of confusion, suspicion, misconception and a lack of understanding about each other and specially about India.

Reasons abound (and differ, depending on whom you ask) as to why and how we have failed to establish deeper integration with and positive perceptions about India, the largest and most powerful country in the neighbourhood.  Many pages and decades have been devoted to this topic with little avail. Some see it as a result of the baggage of the past that weighs heavily on the shoulders of the present. Many blame it on India’s regional aspirations and big-brotherly attitude, which means that other countries in the region find themselves unable to form sustainable ties with one another or with India. Similarly, there are those who see this as emanating from complex historical and socio-cultural elements that dominate our political affairs.

Truth be told, all three are equally valid when it comes to our inability to forge strong bonds. But there is more to it than just a handful of reasons.

India and South Asia: Exploring Regional perceptions, edited by Vishal Chandra and published by the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis, a collection of 16 chapters by scholars from throughout the region, makes an effort to unravel the complex narratives that determine the self-perception of these countries and their relationship with India. As with a number of works that have been carried out on this topic before, its descriptive rather than prescriptive. It mostly indulges in analysing the problem rather that figuring out the solution. 

Just to give an idea of how complex perspectives and layered history govern mutual relationships between India and another South Asian country, here is Dayan Jayatilleka on the Indo- Sri Lankan relationship, “Sri Lanka’s is a perspective from the periphery of India. It is a story of two or perhaps even three intersecting peripheries: Tamil Nadu being the inner periphery of the Indian State, northern Sri Lanka having the co-ethnics from Tamil Nadu or Tamil Nadu being the northern periphery of Sri Lanka, and the relationship between Sri Lanka and India being perceived as filtered through and mediated by the relationship between these two peripheries.”

This seems to be the norm rather than an exception throughout the region. Since the day it came into being as a result of the Two Nation theory, Pakistan, to take another example, has derived the meaning of its existence and the source of its identity not from within itself but from outside its borders.  Its relationship with India has always been defined in opposition to the latter, even if it means perpetuating the myth that it is a ‘Muslim’ country’ and India a ‘Hindu’ country despite facts suggesting otherwise (Pakistan has Hindus living within its territory and India is home to a sizable Muslim population).

Similar is the case with Bangladesh, whose perception of itself and that of its largest neighbour is coloured by its post-colonial journey, first as part of Pakistan, then as an independent country, and which now finds itself reevaluating its ties with India. What was once held as an example of friendship in the region has now become a case of sour grapes (on both sides, probably) and in the words of M Humayun Kabir, who has penned the chapter on Bangladesh, one can find a hint of that dissatisfaction. Kabir portrays his country as a jilted lover who had “made some dramatic concessions to India” in the past only to find itself abandoned in the curb. He questions India’s ability to deliver on its promises and maintain a consistent policy line.

These are but a few instances in the book about the inability of countries in the region to form positive perceptions vis-à-vis India. India might have become an important global player and a regional hegemon, but it still finds itself in soup when it comes to forming closer ties with its neighbour.  What, then, can it do to allay suspicion and form strong bonds? Being the biggest and the most powerful country in the region, India can work with its neighbours to burnish its image. It is time for it to shed its reputation as an “overbearing big brother”. But that’s still not enough. As Pratyoush Onta points out, we suffer from paucity of scholars and quality scholarship when it comes to understanding each other. We can start out by investing more toward this cause. Though no one can be sure if this is going to change things for the better, at least we will end up knowing more about ourselves. And that’s a good thing to begin with.