India's strategic friendship: Indo-Soviet relations during the premiership of Indira Gandhi

The paper would focus on the relations between India and the Soviet Union. The historical period examined has as its protagonist Indira Gandhi during her first (1966-1977) and second term (1980-1984) as prime minister. In this historical moment in which India sought redemption after the defeat suffered against China in 1962 there was a qualitative leap in relations between India and the Soviet Union on a political, economic, military and cultural level. At the same time, Indira Gandhi proved that she knew how to use the weapons at her disposal to curb and channel the support of the USSR for the achievement of her political goals. The paper would investigate the troubled rise to power of Indira Gandhi followed by the initial perplexity of the Soviets over the new prime minister. Changing international dynamics and uncertainties in Indian politics tied closer the Soviet Union and India. The Communist Party of India (CPI), which followed the directives from Moscow, became key partner of the new prime minister. The second mandate of Indira Gandhi (1980-1984) presents the challenges in Indo-Soviet relations. This period is marked by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the CPI’s decision to withdraw its support for the Congress of Indira Gandhi. Initially, the former event created some friction in Indo-Soviet relations. The Soviet move to Afghanistan put Indian government in an uncomfortable position. Indira Gandhi instructed the External Affairs team that India should not condemn the Soviet invasion but express its opposition to such intervention in any country. After the Soviets assured Indian counterparts that they had no intentions to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, the decision was made to separate the issue of Afghanistan from the working scheme of Indo-Soviet relations, much to the relief of both Soviet and Indian governments. Another important development affected the staunch supporter of Indira Gandhi and her party, the CPI. The Eleventh Congress of the Communist Party of India held at the beginning of April 1978 formalized anti-Indira line and sought ‘a left and democratic alternative’ with the CPI(M). The member of the Politburo G.A. Aliev attended the Eleventh Congress of the party leading to assumption that the Soviets approved the new line. This issue was brought to L. Brezhnev during his visit in India in 1980. Although Indira Gandhi kept pressuring the Soviets to bring the CPI into line, they ignored the request. Then Indira Gandhi tried to deprive the CPI of its lifeline. Indo-Soviet cultural societies, scattered all over India, were used by the Communist Party of India as a levers of money and power. Indira Gandhi set up a rival organization called Friends of the Soviet Union to counter the CPI-dominated Indo-Soviet Cultural Society (ISCUS). The efforts to preserve and improve Indo-Soviet relations as well as the instrumental adoption of ideology typify the political strategy of Indira Gandhi.