India, Feb. 11 -- The India-Bangladesh relationship is experienced before it is debated - in bus routes and border queues, in families crossing for treatment, and in markets stocked with goods that travel a few hundred kilometres rather than across oceans. It is rooted in shared history, language, and geography, and something rarer, fighting together for an outcome that reshaped the region. In 1971, India's support for Bangladesh's Liberation War became a foundational reference point in New Delhi's neighbourhood diplomacy. That legacy matters, but it cannot manage today's expectations.

More than five decades of Indo-Bangla relations show a recurring pattern. After Independence, early alignment with India was closely associated with Sheik...