Soviet-Indian Friendship Treaty, 1971-1984

Abstract

Despite its friendly ties with the Soviet Union, India did not respond warmly to Leonid Brezhnev's 1969 call for an Asian collective security system. Two years later, however, the security environment in the subcontinent changed radically. The Pakistani civil war, coupled with Sino-Soviet rapprochement, created for New Delhi the need of a stronger Soviet link. The Soviet-Indian Treaty of August 1971 served that purpose. Ironically, Moscow’s support of New Delhi under the aegis of this treaty during the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War lessened India's dependence on the Soviet Union. With the creation of an independent Bangladesh, Pakistan no longer posed a threat to India. The late Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi tried to assert this new position by keeping Moscow out of Indo-Pakistani negotiations. The defeat of Indira Gandhi in 1977 brought the Janata party into power, and it talked of "genuine" non-alignment, seeking to follow a more even-handed policy towards Washington and Moscow. Gandhi's return to power in 1980 and the policies she pursued until her assassination last year did not reverse this process. The Soviet-Indian Treaty, therefore, has not fulfilled the expectations of those who had seen it as providing a permanent framework for a special relationship between India and the Soviet Union.