On India’s Regional Challenges

The Hindustan Times has an editorial on India’s regional challenges.

Here’s one paragraph:

Between the political black-and-white worldview — where Mr Gandhi sees a failure in India’s handling of the neighbourhood, and Mr Jaishankar sees success — lies a complex truth. India is more invested in the neighbourhood than it has been, but it has also become more challenging for New Delhi to secure its interests in the region. This is due to two factors. The first reason is the increased presence of China. Beijing has decided to engage with political parties, official institutions, media, businesses, and societies in South Asia — with the objective of increasing its control, and eroding Indian influence. India has historic advantages of connectivity, people-to-people linkages, and cultural convergence. But it lacks the resources, single-minded determination, and is often caught between conflicting objectives and ad-hoc policymaking, which makes meeting the China challenge more difficult. The second reason is the nature of democratic contestation in the neighbourhood. Given India’s size and role in the domestic politics of Nepal, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka, there is a “nationalist” constituency in each of these countries that earns political advantage by being seen as adversarial to India. These domestic constituencies then become a natural, receptive partner for China.