New Delhi, Sept. 29 -- The old political bargain has run its course. The most important question in the current Bangladesh-India relationship is perhaps not simply whether India will send Sheikh Hasina back to Bangladesh, or when Prime Minister Tarique Rahman may visit New Delhi. The larger question is whether the two countries can move beyond the old framework of their relationship and build a new equation based on mutual interests.

A recent statement by India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar points in that direction. He said a relationship works when it meets the test of mutual interest and when both sides find a landing point or common ground. In the present reality of Dhaka-Delhi relations, this is more than a routine diploma...