When former Indian PM Manmohan Singh concluded his tour of Bangladesh in September 2011, this paper headlined its lead story: “No Teesta, no transit”. This time, too, there is nothing on Teesta, yet we have agreed on all forms of transit in the name of connectivity. This outcome is not an evidence of the persuasive power of Prime Minister Narendra Modi but more an expression of our faith in him to deliver on all the promises that his predecessor so miserably failed to keep.

Water sharing remains, and will remain, a very serious concern for Bangladesh to which the Indian response remains a promise and a promise only. The ever talkative Mamata Banerjee stunned us all by hardly uttering a word on an issue she knew very well that we, her host, were very anxious to hear about.

Our welcome to the Indian PM was practically with no holds barred. The government left no stone unturned. All political parties literally fell head over heels to meet Modi. BNP and Jamaat went public to say how they were never anti-Indian in their policies.

All of this is both due to our emotional nature and an intuitive belief that Modi will deliver where others have failed. This belief is based on two things – delivery of the LBA and, more crucially and impressively, the manner in which he was able to bring about the crucial constitutional amendment without a single vote of dissent.

An added reason is his stated policy of “neighbourhood first”. Unfortunately, “neighbours” usually meant Pakistan and occasionally China, leading this writer to comment sometime back, in utter frustration, that “India has only two neighbours – Pakistan and China – and the rest of us are mere geographic entities.” India, mistakenly, spent most of its energy trying to “mend fences” with Pakistan at the cost of the rest of its neighbours. It was, and continues to be, India’s fundamental policy flaw.

If Modi is sincere about his “neighbourhood first” policy and if we can seriously encourage India to shift from its Pakistan “obsession”, then Bangladesh will naturally emerge as India’s most important neighbour, keeping China aside for the moment. If that happens – and we don’t see why not – then the sky is the limit for our bilateral cooperation.

It has always been our belief that India’s growth is an opportunity for Bangladesh and not a threat as propounded by some within us, frozen in a pathological anti-Indianism. We also believe that given a very well calibrated regional cooperation, Bangladesh-India relations can be exemplary for others. The crucial phrase here is “well calibrated”, meaning it must clearly envision, at an early phase, to tilt towards Bangladesh. This temporary “positive discrimination” will ultimately benefit India as our per capita income will grow, along with it our buying capacity, which in turn will make Bangladesh a bigger and more attractive market.

Sheikh Hasina has met every possible demand from India – from removing all security threats to giving transit and from allowing the use of Chittagong and Mongla ports to the movement of Indian goods through Bangladesh to northeastern states. There is very little left for us to give.

The “leap of faith” that Sheikh Hasina took in 2010 without getting much in return should now be returned many times over in another “leap of faith” by her Indian counterpart. That is our expectation from the new, visionary, pathbreaking Indian leader who seems to mesmerise people wherever he goes, as he did in his parting speech at the BICC. What a speech – down to earth, disarmingly simple and yet so full of charm, humour, new thoughts and of course, new hope!

Excerpted from an article that appeared in The Daily Star, Bangladesh.