INDIA'S EXTERNAL RELATIONS

1. International context

• India was born in a very trying and challenging international context.
• The world had witnessed a devastating war.
• Free India’s foreign policy reflected the reconstruction, welfare and democracy concerns immediately after Independence at the global level.
• The British government left behind the legacy of many international disputes; Partition created pressures and the task of poverty alleviation was already waiting for fulfilment.
• This was the overall context in which India started participating in world affairs as an independent nation-state.
• As a nation born in the backdrop of the world war, India decided to conduct its foreign relations to respect the sovereignty of all other nations and to achieve security through the maintenance of peace.
• This aim finds an echo in the Directive Principles of State Policy.

2. The Constitutional principles

Article 51 of the Indian Constitution lays down some Directive Principles of State Policy on the promotion of international peace and security.

“The State shall endeavour to –

(a) Promote international peace and security

(b) Maintain just and honourable relations between nations

(c) Foster respect for international law and treaty obligations in the dealings of organised

People with one another; and

(d) Encourage settlement of international disputes by arbitration.”

• Just as both internal and external factors guide the behaviour of an individual or a family; both domestic and international environments influence the foreign policy of a nation.
• After the Second World War, many developing nations chose to support the foreign policy preferences of the powerful countries that were giving them aid or credits.
• This resulted in the division of countries of the world into two.
• One was under the influence of the United States and its Western allies.
• The other was under the influence of the Soviet Union.

3. The policy of Non- alignment

• The Indian national movement was not an isolated process.
• It is a worldwide struggle against colonialism and imperialism.
• The creation of the Indian National Army (INA) by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose during the Second World War was the clearest manifestation of the linkages established between Indian and overseas Indians during the freedom struggle.
• The foreign policy of a nation reflects the interplay of domestic and external factors.
• India’s attainment of independence coincided with the beginning of the Cold War era.

4. Nehru’s role

Nehru played a crucial role in setting the national agenda as the prime minister and the Foreign minister. He exercised profound influence in the formulation and implementation of India’s foreign policy from 1946 to 1964.

The three main objectives of Nehru’s foreign policy were

1. To preserve the hard-earned sovereignty,
2. Protect territorial integrity
3. Promote rapid economic development.

• He wished to achieve these objectives through the strategy of non-alignment.
• India did not join either of the two camps during the Cold War era.
• India wanted to keep away from the military alliances led by the US and Soviet Union.
• During the Cold War, the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact came into existence.
• In 1956 Britain attacked Egypt over the Suez Canal issue, and India led the world protest.
• But in the same year when the USSR invaded Hungary, India did not join its public condemnation.
• Pakistan joined the US-led military alliances.

Afro-Asian unity

• Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Nehru had been an ardent advocate of Asian unity.
• Under his leadership, India convened the Asian Relations Conference in March 1947.
• India supported the freedom of Indonesia from the Dutch colonial regime by convening an international conference in 1949.
• India was a staunch supporter of the decolonisation process and firmly opposed racism, especially apartheid in South Africa.
• The Afro- Asian conference was held in the Indonesian city of Bandung in 1955, known as the Bandung Conference.
• It later led to the establishment of the
• Its first summit was held in Belgrade in September 1961. Nehru was a co-founder of the NAM.

Peace and Conflict with China

• India begins its relationship with China on a very friendly note.
• India is the first country to recognise its communist government after the Russian Revolution.
• Vallabhbhai Patel is worried about possible Chinese aggression in future.
• Nehru thought it was exceedingly unlikely that India would face an attack from China.
• For a long time, the Chinese border was guarded by Paramilitary forces.

Panchsheel: The five principles of peaceful coexistence by the Indian Prime Minister Nehru and the Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai on 29^th April 1954. It was a step in the direction of a stronger relationship between the two countries.

5. The Chinese Invasion, 1962

• Two developments strained this relationship.
• China annexed Tibet in 1950 and thus removed a historical buffer between the two countries.
• Dalai Lama sought and obtained political asylum in India in 1959.
• China alleged that the government of India was allowing anti-China activities to take place from within India.
• Boundary disputes had surfaced between India and China.
• India claimed that the boundary was a matter settled in colonial times, but China said that any colonial decision did not apply.
• China claimed two areas within the Indian Territory; Aksai-chin is in Ladakh and much of the state of Arunachal Pradesh in what was then called NEFA (North Eastern Frontier Agency).
• Between 1957 and 1959, the Chinese occupied the Aksai-chin area and built a strategic road there.
• Despite a very long correspondence and discussion among top leaders could not be resolved.
• Several small border skirmishes took place between the armies.
• China launched a swift and massive invasion in October 1962.
• Chinese forces captured some key areas in Arunachal Pradesh and managed to advance nearly to the entry point of the Assam plains.
• In month later, during the started invasion of Ladakh, Indian forces could block.
• Then China declared a unilateral ceasefire and its troops withdrew to where they were before the invasion.
• India had to approach the Americans and the British for military assistance to tide over the crisis.
• The Soviet Union remained neutral during the conflict. It induced a sense of national humiliation and at the same time strengthened a spirit of nationalism.
• Krishna Menon had to leave the cabinet.
• Nehru was severely criticised for his naïve assessment of the Chinese intentions and the lack of military preparedness.
• For the first time, a no-confidence motion against his government was moved and debated in the Lok Sabha.

6. Sino-Indian relations since 1962

• It took more than a decade for India and China to resume normal relations.
• In1976 full diplomatic relations were restored between the two countries.
• Atal Behari Vajpayee was the first top-level leader (he was then External Affairs Minister) to visit China in 1979.
• Rajiv Gandhi became the first Prime Minister after Nehru to visit China.
• Since then, the emphasis is more on trade relations between the two countries.
• The growing rift between China and the Soviet Union created irreconcilable differences within the Communist Party of India (CPI).
• The party split in 1964 and the leaders of the latter faction formed the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M).
• In the wake of the China war, many leaders of what became CPI (M) were arrested for being pro-China.
• The war with China alerted Indian leadership to the volatile situation in the Northeast region.
• Apart from being isolated and extremely underdeveloped, this region also presented India with the challenge of national integration and political unity.
• The process of its reorganisation began soon after the China war.
• Nagaland was granted statehood; Manipur and Tripura, though Union Territories were given the right to elect their legislative assemblies.

7. Wars and Peace with Pakistan

• In the case of Pakistan, the conflict started just after the Partition over the dispute in Kashmir.
• A proxy war broke out between the Indian and Pakistani armies in Kashmir in 1947.
• But this did not turn into a full war. The issue was then referred to the UN.
• Pakistan soon emerged as a critical factor in India’s relations with the US and subsequently with China.
• The Kashmir conflict did not prevent cooperation between the governments of India and Pakistan.
• Both governments worked together to restore the women abducted during Partition to their original families.
• A long-term dispute about the sharing of river waters was resolved through mediation by the World Bank.
• The India- Pakistan Indus Waters Treaty was signed by Nehru and General Ayub Khan in 1960.
• Despite all the ups and downs in the Indo-Pak relations, this treaty has worked well.
• In April 1965 Pakistan launched armed attacks in the Rann of Kutch area of Gujarat.
• This was followed by a bigger offensive in Jammu and Kashmir in August-September.
• Pakistani rulers were hoping to get support from the local population there, but it did not happen.
• To ease the pressure on the Kashmir front, Shastri ordered Indian troops to launch a counter-offensive on the Punjab border.
• In a fierce battle, the Indian army reached close to Lahore.
• The hostilities came to an end with the UN intervention.
• Later, Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and Pakistan’s General Ayub Khan signed the Tashkent Agreement, brokered by the Soviet Union, in January 1966.
• Though India could inflict considerable military loss on Pakistan, the 1965 war added to India’s already difficult economic situation.

8. Bangladesh War, 1971

• Beginning in 1970, Pakistan faced its biggest internal crisis.
• The Bhutto party emerged as a winner in West Pakistan, while the Awami League led by Sheikh Mujib-ur Rahman swept through East Pakistan.
• The Bengali population of East Pakistan had voted to protest against years of being treated as second-class citizens by the rulers based in West Pakistan.
• The Pakistani rulers were not willing to accept the democratic verdict. Nor were they ready to accept the Awami League’s demand for federation.
• In early 1971, the Pakistani army arrested Sheikh Mujib and unleashed a reign of terror on the people of East Pakistan.
• The people started a struggle to liberate ‘Bangladesh ‘from Pakistan.
• Throughout 1971, India had to bear the burden of about 80 lakh refugees who fled East Pakistan and took shelter in the neighbouring areas in India.
• India extended moral and material support to the freedom struggle in Bangladesh.
• Pakistan accused India of a conspiracy to break it up.
• Support for Pakistan came from the US and China.
• The US-China rapprochement that began in the late 1960s resulted in a realignment of forces in Asia.
• Henry Kissinger, the adviser to US President Richard Nixon, made a secret visit to China via Pakistan in July 1971.
• To counter the US-Pakistan-China axis, India signed a 20-year Treaty of Peace and Friendship with the Soviet Union in August 1971.
• This treaty assured India of Soviet support if the country faced any attack.
• After months of diplomatic tension and military build-up, a full-scale war between India and Pakistan broke out in December 1971.
• Pakistani aircraft attacked Punjab and Rajasthan, while the army moved on the Jammu and Kashmir front.
• India retaliated with an attack involving the air force, navy and the army on both the Western and the Eastern front.
• The Indian army made rapid progress in East Pakistan.
• Within ten days the Indian army had surrounded Dhaka from three sides and the Pakistani army of about 90,000 had to surrender.
• With Bangladesh as a free country, India declared a unilateral ceasefire.
• Later, the signing of the Shimla Agreement between Indira Gandhi and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on 3 July 1972 formalised the return of peace.
• A decisive victory in the war led to national jubilation.
• India, with its limited resources, had initiated development planning.
• However, conflicts with neighbours derailed the five-year plans.
• The scarce resources were diverted to the defence sector especially after 1962, as India had to embark on a military modernisation drive.
• The Department of Defence Production was established in November
• 1962 and the Department of Defence Supplies in November 1965.
• The Third Plan (1961-66) was affected and it was followed by three
• Annual Plans and the Fourth Plan could be initiated only in 1969.
• India’s defence expenditure increased enormously after the wars.

9. India’s nuclear policy

• The first nuclear explosion was undertaken by India in May 1974.
• Nehru had always put his faith in science and technology for rapidly building a modern India.
• A significant component of his industrialisation plans was the nuclear programme initiated in the late 1940s under the guidance of Homi J. Bhabha.
• India wanted to generate atomic energy for peaceful purposes.
• Nehru was against nuclear weapons. So he pleaded with the superpowers for comprehensive nuclear disarmament.
• However, the nuclear arsenal kept rising. When Communist China conducted nuclear tests in October 1964, the five nuclear weapon powers imposed the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1968 on the rest of the world.
• India always considered the NPT discriminatory and refused to sign it.
• When India conducted its first nuclear test, it was termed a peaceful explosion.
• India argued that it was committed to the policy of using nuclear power only for peaceful purposes.
• The period when the nuclear test was conducted was difficult in domestic politics.
• Following the Arab-Israel War of 1973, the entire world was affected by the Oil Shock due to the massive hike in oil prices by the Arab nations. It led to the economic turmoil in India resulting in high inflation.
• Many agitations were going on in the country around this time, including a nationwide railway strike.
• There are minor differences among political parties about how to conduct external relations.
• Indian politics is generally marked by a broad agreement among the parties on national integration, protection of international boundaries, and questions of national interest.
• Therefore, we find that in the course of the decade 1962-1972, when India faced three wars, or even later when different parties came to power from time to time, foreign policy played only a limited role in party politics.