35Though Saudi Arabia was present, the Belgrade meet was a Nehru- Nasser-
Tito show. Shortly after this, India faced the border conflict with China and
this marked Nehru’s political demise internally and little influence exter-
nally. Neither NAM nor Nehru’s friendship with Nasser garnered sufficient
support for him during the Sino-Indian conflict. Reflecting on the response
from the region, one concluded:
governments as well as Press (barring a small section which was favourably
disposed towards Beijing), and the general public in the region, grasped the
true nature and meaning of Chinese threat to India. While some of them
conveyed their reactions spontaneously and unequivocally, others did so
cautiously and with reserve. But no government in the area approved of
Chinese action or rendered her any support. (Agwani 1963 , 79)Though significant, considering a vociferous Indian defence of Egypt
during the Suez crisis, Nasser’s offer to mediate was less flattering and his
four-point Colombo proposal was rejected by China (Agwani 1963 , 77).
In the hour of the national crisis, Nehru was forced to reach out to Israel
with which he refused to establish normal relations and he sought and
secured limited quantities of urgently needed small arms and ammunition
(Bhattacharya 2017 ).
The year 1962 also marked far-reaching changes within the Kingdom. In
November 1953 upon the death of founder King Ibn Saud, his eldest son and
crown prince Saud became the ruler. Immediately, he faced a family feud with
his half-brother Faisal and other siblings over financial matters. This took a
turn for the worst when King Saud opted for common primogeniture succes-
sion, that is, within his own immediate family. Towards this end, he abolished
the post of prime minister and clipped the powers of the then Crown Prince
Faisal. The King also placed his sons in key government positions including
the ministries of defence and interior and as Governor of Riyadh.
These precipitated a power struggle and rebellion from other sons of
Ibn Saud led by Faisal. A temporary truce was reached in October 1962
with Faisal being named the prime minister and the sidelining of the sons
of King Saud from the cabinet. This did not last long and Saud was forced
to abdicate in November 1964 and was succeeded by Faisal. Primarily to
avoid similar maverick moves in future, the al-Saud institutionalized the
agnatic succession whereby the King would be succeeded by his younger
brother and not by his son. This linear succession had survived until 2017
when King Salman removed his half-brother Muqrin and he first named
his nephew Muhammad bin Nayef and then his son Mohammed as crown
prince and possible successor.
DRIFTING APART