60
The people-to-people contacts became pronounced with the commer-
cial discovery of oil and the Saudi ability to manage its finances without the
British aid and assistance. This brought about a shift in Saudi outreach
activities by supporting the construction of mosques, Arabic teaching facil-
ities, the establishment of madrassas and other community welfare institu-
tions in different parts of the world, including India. While the political
engagements were limited, the non-political community-level contacts
flourished; for example, between 1932 when the Kingdom was established
and until early 2018, there were only two royal visits to India and four
prime ministerial visits to the Kingdom. During the eight decades, there
were only a few foreign ministerial exchanges between the two, mostly
after 1991. During this period of limited political engagements, Islam has
been the most dominant factor of bilateral relations even after diplomatic
relations were established in 1947. For the sake of clarity, one could iden-
tify four streams as factors which influenced the Indo-Saudi relations,
namely, Islam in Indian foreign policy, pan-Islamism, haj and religious
radicalism. The issue of Kashmir though linked to Islam is discussed within
the context of the Pakistani factor in shaping the Indo-Saudi relations.
Islam In IndIan ForeIgn PolIcy
The role of Muslims upon India’s policy towards the outside world or in
relations with a particular country has been highly contested. This is in
contrast to the recognition of the domestic-foreign policy linkage on other
segments of the Indian population. Despite differences over its extent and
usefulness the impact of Tamil Nadu politics upon India’s Sri Lankan pol-
icy has been widely recognized. While New Delhi could minimize the
impact of the Dravidian parties, its ability to pursue a policy indifferent to
Chennai is unviable. The same holds true for West Bengal when it comes
to the Indo-Bangladeshi relations; when the civil war broke out in 1971,
that state hosted over ten million refugees from the then East Pakistan.
The same can be said for Indian states bordering China, Nepal, Myanmar
and Pakistan.
The formation of a coalition governments, especially under the Congress
during 2004–14, forced even sceptics to recognize and admit the influence
of the regional parties upon New Delhi’s approach towards the neigh-
bours (Schaffer and Schaffer 2013 ; Maini 2011 ). The alliance partners
were slowing down and even sabotaged some of the policy initiatives of
the central government.
P. R. KUMARASWAMY AND MD. M. QUAMAR