'Make Agartala doctrine part of India's foreign policy'

New Delhi, February 26 (IANS): Tiny Tripura's style of handling insurgency and building relations with Bangladesh should be taken into account by India's foreign policy planners while dealing with neighbouring countries, says a senior journalist with considerable experience of reporting on eastern India.   “The Agartala doctrine is based on the critical role played by Tripura in India's foreign policy,” said Subir Bhaumik, editor of “The Agartala Doctrine: A proactive northeast in Indian foreign policy”, at the New Delhi launch of the book organised on Thursday by the Society for Policy Studies (SPS).   Bringing together a rich mix of perspectives from academics and practitioners from South Asia, the book, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), provides a window for all those interested in understanding India's foreign policy vis-a-vis its neighbours.

  The book calls for a robust national doctrine to guide India's border states, especially those in the northeast, in tackling pressing issues and also helping them boost their economy by accessing opportunities beyond borders. It constructs such a framework by exemplifying Tripura's not-so-well-known influence on India's foreign policy towards East Pakistan and then Bangladesh for more than half a century through the so-called Agartala doctrine.   According to Bhaumik, a veteran journalist and senior fellow with the Kolkata-based Centre for Studies in International Relations and Development (CSIRD), it was Tripura's first chief minister Sachindra Lal Singh who told then prime minister Indira Gandhi to “kick out” Pakistan from East Pakistan.   “Without the role played by Tripura's chief ministers, Bangladesh would not have been a reality,” he said.