India’s Deep and Forgotten Burma Connection: Raghav’s Take 

As Indo-Mynamar ties evolve, an excerpt from Raghav Bahl’s #SuperEconomies traces their fascinating history.

India and Myanmar have traditionally had cultural, historical, ethnic and religious ties; in addition they share a geographical land border and maritime boundary. As Myanmar evolved from a military junta to a quasi-democracy, India’s and Myanmar’s relationship has undergone a sea change.

India’s rise on the international stage and Myanmar’s “democratic transition” have forced the two nations to reassess their ties. Prime Minster Narendra Modi has put great significance on relations with Southeast Asian countries, rechristening the national policy from “Look East” to “Act East.”

With the recent ‘surgical strike’ against insurgent camps in Myanmar territory, the India-Myanmar relationship is back in sharp focus. Here’s an excerpt from Raghav Bahl’s latest book #SuperEconomies tracing the fascinating history between the two nations.

At the start of the twenty-first century, no battleground better illuminated India’s rising stature in the region than Burma. Nestled between India’s isolated north-eastern states and China’s southwestern Yunnan province, Burma lies at the geographic—and ideological—junction of Asia’s two great powers, ‘exactly midway between Delhi and Bombay and Shanghai and Hong Kong’, as former UN diplomat Thant Myint-U wrote. ‘It is the missing link.’ For centuries, the two countries fought for dominance of the rugged, resource-rich land between them. Ancient Chinese rulers sought to carve a path through Burma to India and beyond. Nearly 2000 years later, imperial Britain looked to Burma to provide a ‘back door’ into China. The Chinese appear to have arrived in Burma first, as early as the tenth century, but their numbers remained sparse until the thirteenth century, when businessmen started heading south looking for new customers. Cross-border trade flourished, and many Chinese merchants prospered. They blended easily with the Burmese, adapting effortlessly to their language, dress and customs.

But the Indians made a bigger splash. Their cultural influences preceded their mass arrival by more than 2000 years; Buddhism, founded in India in the fourth century bc, was soon imported into Burma, where it became the predominant religion. Legend has it that Gautama Buddha himself visited the country more than once. Early Indian achievements in mathematics, astronomy, architecture and literature also reached the Burmese; in the eleventh century, Burma’s first kings called themselves ‘Vikram’ and ‘Varman’—titles used by India’s ancient rulers. ‘For most of the past 2,000 years, it was India, not China, that enjoyed the closest connections with Southeast Asia, and was by far the premier source of outside cultural and religious inspiration,’ wrote Myint-U.

British rule spurred a flood of Indians to Burma. Though the Raj initially annexed Burma to protect India’s eastern flank, it turned out to be a lucrative addition to the empire, rich in minerals, as well as teak, oil and rice. Prodded by their imperial rulers, thousands of Indians poured in, seeking opportunity. They brought cheap labour and white-collar skills and, by the late 1920s, the capital of Rangoon was home to more Indians than Burmese. They weren’t universally welcomed, however; in 1930, mounting Burmese hostility sparked violent anti-Indian riots, which killed thousands. Throughout the country, Indians significantly outnumbered Chinese, accounting for about 5 per cent of Burma’s population in 1931, while ethnic Chinese made up only 1.3 per cent. Indians dominated the hardware, textiles and gold trades, and served as doctors, lawyers and teachers. They helped turn Rangoon—which, not coincidentally, bears a striking resemblance to Calcutta—into one of Asia’s most cosmopolitan cities. Cultured and ethnically diverse, it became a travel hub for steamships and eventually passenger planes, and a purveyor of first-rate schools.

World War II only enhanced Burma’s strategic value. The Burma Road carried Allied supplies from Lashio to the Yunnan capital of Kunming, arming Chinese troops in their fight against the Japanese. It proved so damaging to Japan that Hirohito’s forces invaded Burma and cut off the route in 1942, capturing Rangoon and forcing the Allies into temporary retreat. The war forced India and China to set aside their rivalry and fight together to defend Burma against the Japanese. But the conflict took a heavy toll: both countries suffered extensive civilian and military casualties on Burmese soil. The war also triggered India’s gradual withdrawal from the country. During the Japanese occupation, hundreds of thousands of Indians fled Burma, fearful that the British would withdraw and leave them at the mercy of angry local mobs. Three years after the war ended, the British finally did withdraw, and the Indian exodus continued.

Independent Burma remained leery of both its giant neighbours. Though Nehru and Burma’s first prime minister, U Nu, shared similar sensibilities and a close personal relationship, the Burmese public resented the resident Indian business elite, and many feared Indian domination. At the same time, Beijing continued to lay claim to huge swaths of northern Burma, and its Communist Party maintained troubling ties to Burma’s. To make matters worse, when the Chinese Communists defeated the Kuomintang in 1949, Nationalist troops fled across the border into Burma, where they battled with Burmese Maoists. Like India, Burma adopted a position of strict neutrality in foreign affairs, determined to maintain friendly relations with Asia’s two biggest powers.