New Delhi, Jan. 31 -- Negotiations for "the mother of all deals", which has been almost 20 years in the making, finally concluded this week.

In EU President Ursula von der Leyen's own words: "We are creating a market of 2 billion people. This is a tale of two giants-the world's second- and fourth-largest economies. Two giants who choose partnership in a true win-win fashion. A strong message that cooperation is the best answer to global challenges."

It wouldn't be wrong to say that India and the EU had almost given up on the free trade agreement-first in 2013, when they hit pause, and later in 2015, after the EU played tough over the trial of two Italian marines who shot Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast in 2012.

It was only after ...