44
The oil crisis, however, brought benefits to India and both have had
long-term implications upon the Indo-Saudi relations. As discussed in a
later chapter, the oil crisis and the resultant construction boom in the Gulf
Arab countries spurred the flow of large-scale Indian labour migration and
contributed to remittances and growth in Indo-Gulf trade. And the oil
crisis and dependence upon oil product imports also resulted in India
enlarging its refining capacity.
Though oil imports, labour migration and bilateral trade were flourish-
ing, the positions of India and Saudi Arabia on various international issues
were different and even irreconcilable. This resulted in India having to
look for a new Arab partner wedded to secularism in the post-Nasser polit-
ical order and this brought it closer to the Ba’athist Iraq. Though Syria
also had similar political credentials, Iraq had a distinct advantage in the
form of oil wealth. Thus, since the 1970s Baghdad emerged as India’s new
‘friend’ in the region and bilateral relations encompassed ‘friendly’ prices
for oil, its imports and the Iraqi support for its position on Kashmir. With
their dependence upon the Soviet weapons and systems, India began
engaging with the Iraqi military and sent advisers and technicians to
Baghdad (Jha 1992 ). The Iraq-Soviet Friendship Treaty concluded on
9 April 1972 was similar to the one signed by India a few months earlier.
The bonhomie resulted in the then Iraqi vice-president visiting New Delhi
in March 1974, his only other visit outside the Middle East.^6
Unlike the pro-Nasser tilt earlier, India’s pro-Iraqi disposition from the
early 1970s did not harm the Indo-Saudi relations. On the contrary, it
became handy during the eight-year Iran-Iraq War. Apprehensive of the
Islamic revolution, the Gulf Arab countries bankrolled the Iraqi aggres-
sion and bore the cost of the war (Rubin 1989 ). For its part, India was
instrumental in Iraq not being named the aggressor in the non-aligned
forums. Though her mediatory efforts were unsuccessful, Indira Gandhi
ensured that NAM did not censure Baghdad but settled for demanding
Iraq, the founding member of the NAM and the newly joined Iran to
resolve their differences peacefully (Mudiam 1994 ). The favourable
disposition towards Iraq manifested in Indira Gandhi stepping in and
hosting the seventh NAM summit in March 1983 (Dixit 2003 ).
One could suggest that sympathy for the Iraqi ruler brought a tempo-
rary respite and brief interest convergence between India and Saudi Arabia.
Otherwise, during much of the Cold War, their worldviews were different
and often at cross-purposes.
(^6) He visited France in September 1975.
P. R. KUMARASWAMY AND MD. M. QUAMAR