This brief examines the role of West Bengal as a leverage for India to enhance its relations with its eastern and southeastern neighbours. It identifies the domestic and geo-economic aspirations of the state, and outlines the impact of certain misplaced policies and the state’s conflictual relationship with the union government on West Bengal’s development goals. The brief calls on India to nurture a pragmatic, cooperative brand of federalism that will draw from the tenets of paradiplomacy and emphasise West Bengal’s strategic importance in the Bay of Bengal region for realising the country’s geopolitical aspirations.
https://www.orfonline.org/research/as-india-acts-east-the-role-of-west-bengal/
