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The fact is, India still has a long way to go. There is a disproportionate amount of poverty (India is estimated to have one third of the world’s poor) and the health and education systems outside the major population centres are as bad as anywhere else in South Asia. How can a nation call itself a democracy when an estimated 200,000 farmers have committed suicide in the last 20 years, 20 million female foetuses have been aborted in the last 10 years, and people remain unequal due to the caste system? There is a strange mix of pride and denial amongst the Indian elite, resulting in little room for criticism and a lack of recognition that India is still struggling - it’s the image that is thriving.

No doubt, there is an inferiority complex that can be associated with any smaller nation. But Bangladesh should realise that it has a lot to offer in terms of fighting terrorism (both separatist movements in Assam and religious extremism), allowing transit to the Seven Sisters, and, of course, taking the edge off the threat posed by an increasingly unstable Pakistan. However, the lack of magnanimity shown by the current Indian government and its predecessors with regards to water sharing, the lowering of tariffs and transit to Nepal has left Bangladeshi politicians with their hands tied. To be seen as giving in to India would be tantamount to political suicide.