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the Pakistani factor was more visibly manifested in India’s Israel policy and
inhibited New Delhi from normalizing relations with the Jewish State until
January 1992 (Kumaraswamy 2010 ).
In other words, conflicting worldviews, differing regional priorities and
the Egypt-Saudi and Indo-Pakistani tensions influenced and even decided
India’s approach towards the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. How did Nehru’s
India deal with Riyadh within the complex matrix of anti- colonialism,
Nasserism, pan-Arabism, opposition to Pakistan and pan- Islamism and the
nascent pro-Soviet orientation in India’s foreign policy?
limiteD engagements UnDer nehrU
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia enjoys a few advantages over many other
countries vis-à-vis India. It is geographically closer and has centuries of
socio-cultural and trade ties. Indian merchants dominated the haj-related
trade and commerce during the British rule and since the late nineteenth
century, the Vice Counsel in British Embassy in Jeddah was facilitating the
haj pilgrimage. During the British rule, India had the largest Muslim com-
munity in the world. Though the partition of the subcontinent took away
that status, a large number of Muslims opted to stay behind and contrib-
uted to India’s socio-cultural diversity. Hence, as the birthplace of Islam
and home to the two holiest places in Islam, Saudi Arabia has occupied a
prominent position in the Indian society and polity. Even an atheist like
Nehru could not ignore the Islamic dimension of the Kingdom, especially
when a large number of Indians perform haj. Indeed, as discussed else-
where, India’s recognition of Israel was partly delayed due to apprehen-
sions over possible Saudi restrictions upon haj.
At the same time, Riyadh was less active and attractive than others in
furthering Nehru’s principal foreign policy agenda such as anti- colonialism,
anti-imperialism and opposition to the perpetuation of external interfer-
ence. Due to domestic and regional challenges since the early 1960s, the
Kingdom was drifting away from Afro-Asian solidarity and forging closer
strategic ties with the West. While Nehru could not ignore the Saudi par-
ticipation in Bandung and Belgrade conferences and its opposition to
CENTO, the Pakistan factor added a sense of urgency in him trying to
minimize the fallouts of the Saudi-Pakistan cooperation.
In diplomatic terms, formal relations were established in 1948 and
embassies were opened in New Delhi and Jeddah in 1957. India was one
P. R. KUMARASWAMY AND MD. M. QUAMAR