India at 80: What Its Journey Means for Bangladesh

As India celebrates its 80th Independence Day on 15 August, Bangladesh has more than a passing interest in the story unfolding across its western and northern borders. India is not simply Bangladesh's largest neighbour. It is a country with which Bangladesh shares history, rivers, culture, trade, geography and, most importantly, the defining experience of 1971.

For Bangladesh, therefore, India's rise matters.

What happens in India has consequences far beyond India. Its economic growth affects regional trade. Its infrastructure plans shape connectivity. Its domestic politics influence the neighbourhood. Its foreign policy has implications for South Asia. And its success -- or failure -- in managing its enormous diversity carries lessons for every country in the region.

When India became independent in 1947, the odds did not appear particularly favourable. The country inherited widespread poverty, illiteracy, food shortages and weak infrastructure. Its extraordinary linguistic, religious, ethnic and cultural diversity led many observers to question whether such a vast and fragmented society could sustain democracy, let alone remain united.

Eight decades later, the answer is difficult to dispute.

India survived. It consolidated. And it transformed.

Perhaps India's most important political achievement has been the endurance of its constitutional system. Through wars, economic crises, political upheavals and profound social change, India has continued to hold elections and transfer political power through the ballot box.

From a Bangladeshi perspective, this institutional continuity deserves particular recognition. South Asia has a difficult democratic history. Military interventions, political instability and interruptions of constitutional government have marked the region at different times. Against that backdrop, India's ability to maintain a functioning electoral system for eight decades is no small achievement.

India's unity is perhaps even more remarkable.

Its hundreds of languages and dialects, religions, ethnicities and regional identities could easily have become sources of weakness. Instead, they have largely been accommodated within a single political framework.

That is not to say that India's record is without challenges. Communal tensions, political polarisation, caste discrimination and debates over minority rights remain part of its contemporary reality. But the larger achievement remains: India has shown that a country does not have to become culturally or religiously uniform to remain politically united.

That lesson has resonance across South Asia.

India's economic transformation is another story altogether.

At independence, it was a predominantly agrarian and impoverished economy. Today, it is the world's fourth largest economy, with globally competitive sectors ranging from information technology and pharmaceuticals to manufacturing, financial services and digital technology.

But the transformation is not fully even, with millions of Indians still struggling with poverty and inadequate public services. Yet the scale of change is undeniable.

The Green Revolution was a turning point. Agricultural research, irrigation, improved seeds and the hard work of millions of farmers helped turn a country once dependent on food imports into a major agricultural producer. For a region that has known famine and food insecurity, India's journey towards food self-sufficiency is one of modern Asia's significant development stories.

India's progress in reducing poverty has also been substantial. The expansion of electricity, sanitation, housing, banking, roads, education and social protection has brought millions more people into the formal economy and improved living standards across much of the country.

Then there is infrastructure.

India today is criss-crossed by highways and expressways, modern rail networks and metro systems, airports, ports, bridges and tunnels. The country's engineering capabilities have expanded dramatically, while digital connectivity has transformed the way citizens communicate, transact and access government services.

For Bangladesh, this development has a practical significance.

Better roads, railways, ports and waterways across the region can transform eastern South Asia into a more integrated economic space. Bangladesh stands to benefit from greater connectivity with India and the wider region -- provided such connectivity is based on reciprocity and produces tangible benefits for both sides.

India's technological ambitions have also changed its global image.

Its space programme, once built with modest resources, has become a source of national pride and international respect. The Chandrayaan and Mangalyaan missions demonstrated that India could pursue sophisticated scientific goals without the budgets traditionally associated with major space powers. Chandrayaan-3's successful lunar landing reinforced that reputation.

India's advances in nuclear science, biotechnology, telecommunications, information technology, engineering and advanced manufacturing have similarly strengthened its position in the global economy.

Its pharmaceutical industry is now of global importance. Its vaccine-manufacturing capacity has made it a major player in international public health. Indian doctors, scientists and medical professionals are respected around the world.

The country's digital transformation may prove equally consequential.

Digital identity, mobile connectivity, instant payments and digital public services have been deployed at an extraordinary scale. India's experience shows how technology can potentially bring millions of people into formal financial and economic systems.

For Bangladesh, which is pursuing its own digital transformation, there are useful lessons here -- both in what India has achieved and in the challenges it has encountered.

All of this has inevitably changed India's place in the world.

The country that emerged from colonial rule in 1947 as an economically fragile new republic is today a major global economy, an important strategic power and an increasingly influential voice in international affairs. Its growing relationships with the United States, Europe, Russia, Japan, the Gulf and other Asian powers reflect its expanding economic and geopolitical weight.

But greater power also brings greater responsibility.

For Bangladesh and other neighbours, a stronger India is welcome when that strength contributes to regional stability, economic opportunity and connectivity. At the same time, smaller neighbours reasonably expect India's power to be exercised with sensitivity to their interests.

This is where the Bangladesh-India relationship becomes particularly important.

The two countries have achieved much in recent years in trade, connectivity, energy and security cooperation. But unresolved questions continue to shape public opinion in Bangladesh -- most notably water sharing, border killings, trade imbalances and the political sensitivities surrounding the continued presence and activities of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina in India.

These issues should not obscure the larger relationship, but neither should friendship be used as a reason to avoid difficult conversations.

A mature relationship must have room for both appreciation and disagreement.

That principle is equally relevant to India's own democratic journey.

One of India's greatest civilisational strengths has historically been its capacity to accommodate difference. Its constitutional promise of liberty, equality and freedom of belief is central to the idea of India. Preserving that pluralism will be critical to India's future standing -- not only domestically but also internationally.

A strong India does not need conformity. It needs confidence.

And that confidence should extend to criticism.

Institutions -- including Parliament, the judiciary, the media and civil society -- are strongest when they can scrutinise power without fear.

This matters to Bangladesh because the health of India's democracy matters to the neighbourhood.

A peaceful, stable, prosperous and plural India is good for South Asia. Conversely, deep political polarisation and instability or institutional weakening in India would inevitably have regional consequences.

India's young population presents another defining challenge.

For today's generation, independence means more than freedom from colonial rule. It means freedom from poverty, discrimination and bureaucratic failure -- and the freedom to innovate, question, create and prosper.

That aspiration is shared by young Bangladeshis.

The two countries differ enormously in size, economic weight and political structure. Yet both face similar questions: How can enough good jobs be created? How can education and healthcare be improved? How can women participate more fully in the economy? How can technology be used to expand opportunity? And how can economic growth be made more inclusive?

At 80, India's story is therefore not just an Indian story.

It is a South Asian story.

India's journey from food scarcity to food security, from technological dependence to innovation, from inadequate infrastructure to engineering achievements of global scale, and from economic fragility to global economic influence represents an extraordinary transformation.

But perhaps India's most consequential achievement is the endurance of the idea of India -- the proposition that a vast and deeply diverse civilisation can remain politically united without demanding cultural uniformity.

Across languages, religions, castes, cultures and regions, India has demonstrated that diversity does not necessarily have to be a fault line. It can also be the foundation of a shared national identity.

For Bangladesh, that is both an inspiration and a reminder.

The strongest nations are not necessarily those that demand uniformity, but those confident enough to accommodate difference. The strongest democracies are not those without disagreement, but those capable of managing disagreement through institutions rather than confrontation.

As the Indian tricolour rises for the 80th time, Bangladesh can acknowledge India's achievements without surrendering its own independent perspective.

The future of Bangladesh-India relations should be built on mutual respect, sovereign equality, transparency and sensitivity to each other's interests.

India has travelled a remarkable distance in eight decades.

Its next challenge is not simply to become richer or more powerful. It is to ensure that its growing power is matched by stronger institutions, greater social cohesion and a neighbourhood policy that gives its smaller neighbours confidence.

For Bangladesh, that would be the most welcome achievement of India's next chapter.

At 80, India's answer to those who once doubted its survival is clear: the Republic endured, and it transformed itself.

The question for the further is more demanding.

Can India convert its enormous economic, technological and geopolitical weight into a more inclusive society and a more peaceful, prosperous South Asia?

The answer will matter not only to Indians, but to every country that shares this region -- and perhaps to none more than Bangladesh.