14 introductionhistorical diff erences between the Jewish question and the problems of
the Muslims of British India did not receive adequate attention among
Congress Party circles.
After the partition of the subcontinent, the erstwhile Congress
Party– Muslim League rivalry over the support of the Indian Muslims
transformed into po liti cal competition between India and Pakistan for
Arab support. The troubles over Kashmir and Pakistan’s attempts to
speak on behalf of Muslim citizens of India complicated the matter.
Thus, from the very beginning, Pakistan has occupied an important
position in India’s foreign policy, and this manifested most clearly in its
Middle East policy. To counter Pakistan using Islam as its principal
foreign- policy instrument, India burnished its secular credentials. Both
countries used their respective support for Palestinians as their princi-
pal means to establish their pro- Arab credentials. This competition with
Pakistan resulted in India making a few controversial decisions, such as
its gatecrashing the Rabat Islamic summit in September 1969.
The Islamic infl uences upon India’s Middle East policy were inevita-
ble. Having opted for democracy, both before and after in de pen dence,
the Indian leaders had to listen to the voices and aspirations of the various
segments of the population. A country with extremely diverse religious,
ethnic, linguistic, and national groups, democracy was and remains the
only option if India is to survive as a po liti cal entity. Any other course
would have vindicated Churchill’s prediction of India being just “a geo-
graphic term” and “no more a united nation than the equator.” Its lead-
ers, therefore, must respond to diverse pulls and pressures and keep in
sync with the aspirations and demands of various ethnic and religious
groups, especially on sensitive foreign- policy issues. A wanton disregard
of any par tic u lar group or segment of the population would have chal-
lenged the very idea of India.
Thus various transborder ethnonational links play an important role
in shaping India’s relations with its immediate neighbors. Its policy to-
ward the ethnic confl ict in Sri Lanka, for example, has been heavily infl u-
enced by the sentiments of the Tamil population in the southern state of
Tamil Nadu. A similar role is played by the Bengali population regarding
India’s policy toward Bangladesh, Punjabis vis-à- vis Pakistan, and con-
servative Hindus vis-à- vis Nepal.
The same is true for the Indian Muslims. Their interests in Middle
Eastern developments are a function of history, theology, and faith. Even