Indian lawmaker Mani Shanker Aiyar on Saturday said India would not lose by signing a Teesta water-sharing treaty with Bangladesh.
“The Indian government should fulfill the commitment Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made in Dhaka,” Aiyar said while answering questions from the audience at an international conference on “Religion and politics: South Asia”, held at the Cirdap auditorium in the capital on Saturday.
Due to strong opposition by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the treaty for sharing the waters of the Teesta River is yet to be signed between Bangladesh and India.
Regarding the issue, Aiyar said India would not be able to emerge as a great leader on the world stage unless it solved problems with its neighbours.
He also said it was the responsibility of India as the larger neighbour to settle border issues with Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Itihas Sammilani (Bangladesh history congress), a civil society platform based in Dhaka, organised the two-day conference, attended by lawmakers and academicians from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the host nation.
