133(Raja Mohan 2001 ). Reflecting a new approach towards New Delhi, the
al-Saud rolled out a royal welcome, and in an unprecedented gesture the
visiting Indian minister had an audience with Crown Prince Abdullah,
who was officiating due to the health situation of King Fahd, as well as
Defence Minister Sultan, Interior Minister Nayef and others (India, MEA
2001 , 39–40).
During the visit both sides exchanged views on a host of international
issues, including the then ongoing Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, and
according to one Indian official, “there was not (sic) single negative vibra-
tion” between the two sides (Raja Mohan 2001 ). As a personal gesture,
Singh was gifted with two royal horses by the hosts (The Hindu 2001 ).
Addressing the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce, Singh recalled
“the six millennia over which India has established close bonds with the
Arabian Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula” (Strategic Digest 2001 , 441)
and reminded the visits of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi and how
the latter “had the privilege of being hosted by the then Crown Prince
Fahd, today the distinguished and justly admired King of this great coun-
try” (Strategic Digest 2001 , 442). Underscoring the challenges of the
new millennium and globalization, Singh observed that given “the energy
resources available in the Kingdom and the human and technological
resources available in India, the potential for our cooperation is infinite.
We must work towards its full realization” (Strategic Digest 2001 , 446).
Jaswant Singh’s visit proved to be “ground breaking” (Gopal 2017 ) as
it marked a new phase of periodic and sustained political engagements.
If one excludes the P-3 (namely, the US, Russia and China), India had
more high-level bilateral political exchanges with Saudi Arabia than with
any other major power. Meetings and exchanges between Indian and
Iranian leaders attract considerable attention and commentaries in the
West (Boulden 1996 ; Fair et al. 2004 ) but New Delhi and Riyadh have
been slowly making up for the prolonged neglect, suspicion and the resul-
tant indifference. For example, between Jaswant Singh’s visit in January
2001 and until his abrupt removal from office in April 2015, Prince
Faisal—the world’s longest-serving foreign minister—had visited India
thrice, in February 2006, February 2008 and December 2008.
In subsequent years, as Prince Faisal scaled down his foreign trips due
to health issues, his trips to India also ceased. His successor Adel bin
Ahmed al-Jubeir took time to visit India and his March 2016 trip (India,
MEA 2016a) was a preparatory one for Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the
Kingdom the following month. Before becoming King, Salman had visited
THE SHIFT