Abstract
The term ‘civilisational link’ is perhaps the only invoked proposition when it comes to define the relationship between India and the wider Middle East. India’s relationship with the region is rooted in history and has been enriched over the centuries by an intense and prolonged phase of multidimensional exchange of ideas between the two.
During the past two decades, the region has figured prominently not only in India’s economic growth but also in its great power aspirations. India has a high economic and commercial stake in the region and receives a huge amount of remittances annually from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
Like many other nations of the world, India too was completely baffled and astounded over the sudden mass upsurge in the Arab world against the incumbent regimes. High political, economic and energy stakes determined India’s response to the political uprising there and it was primarily guided by its core economic concern.
The book under review is a broad trajectory of India’s political, economic and cultural relationships with the Gulf nations, apart from a brief account of the political upheaval and commotion being witnessed in the region for more than three years. It is an edited volume by Professor Kumaraswamy, a well-known expert on the Middle East and someone who has been engaged in studying the region for more than three decades. Apart from multidimensional aspects of Indo-Gulf relations in term of opportunities and constraints explained in the introductory chapter by Professor Swamy, the present volume contains 10 articles by a series of scholars and area experts providing an empirical outline of major countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and United Arab Emirates (UAE), along with other minor stakeholders such as Oman, Bahrain and Yemen.
The introductory part of this volume by Professor Swamy is very candid and cogent account of evolving ties between India and the Gulf region in civilisational, political, economic and cultural terms. This part focuses on altering Indian foreign policy behaviour in the aftermath of departure of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from the horizon of global politics when India chose to modify its decades-old policy vis-à-vis the Middle East by establishing full diplomatic ties with Israel. The author not only provides a glimpse of economic, political, religious and strategic relevance of the Middle East for India but also explains how the relevance is intertwined with a set of challenges, such as absence of political stability, transparency and accountability in the regional political system. The author rightly points out that the relevance of Gulf region emanates more from India’s major reliance on energy and remittance than political or cultural needs. It is quite cogently argued that the Israel–Palestine conflict and Pakistan loom large as obstacles in cementing close ties with a few of the nations in the region.
India has always remained cognisant of pro-Pakistan bias of the Middle Eastern nations as Pakistan remains the most dominant foreign policy occupation of India (p. 7). India’s great power aspiration needs to receive acceptability in the Middle East too, along with South Asia. The Iranian nuclear issue remains the biggest challenge for Indian diplomacy where energy-driven and oil-centred foreign policy with Iran has not gone down well with the United States (US) (p. 33).
The introductory chapter is followed by a survey of nine countries which fall under the geographical ambit of Persian Gulf, along with a chapter on GCC and a policy option for India in the present context.
Each chapter of the book is crafted in a way that provides a window to the inside development of each country, highlighting a set of variables of bilateral relation in political, cultural and economic terms.
The most gripping section of the book is about Iran and Saudi Arabia. The account of Ms Alvite Singh Ningthoujam is very comprehensive and revealing. This section offers a window to understand the post-revolution political dynamics of Iran and how the political tussle between clergy and the moderates, since the last decade of twentieth century, has shaped the Iranian politics. This is a snapshot about the Iranian defiance of Western policy of isolation and exclusion since 2012. The core of the chapter constitutes the story of diplomatic relations between Iran and India. Energy is the main locomotive for the Indo-Iran relationship and India’s dependence on Iran for its energy requirement defines the true nature of relationship between them.
The account of Indo-Iran trade is provided in a detailed index, with statistics, which, in itself, is an indicator of close economic ties. Other issues hampering the bilateral ties, like mistreatment of Iranian students in India, ban of wheat export to Iran and the opening of Iranian bank, have been discussed in some details. How the Iranian relations with other major nations in the region like Pakistan act instrumental in determining the nature and dynamics of its relation with India is dealt with at some length by the author.
Similarly, the chapter on Saudi Arabia by Mr Md Muddassir Quamar is very central to the theme of the book. This chapter highlights the relationship more in the modern era when the diplomatic relation was established after the independence of India in 1947. The author has rightly raised the issue of terrorism and succession problem marring the internal politics of the country, while dealing with the domestic history of Saudi Arabia. The monarchical response to the Arab Spring has been dealt with at some length by Mr Quamar, including how the royal family bought the political loyalty and legitimacy in exchange of the huge economic package. Further, to enforce its legitimacy, regime made clergy to announce a series of religious verdict ( fatwa) declaring any revolt or rebellion against the regime an anathema to Islamic spirit. While discussing the bilateral relationship between India and Saudi Arabia, author traces some rupture in the relation when Prime Minister Nehru’s visit of 1956 was reciprocated only in 1982 by King Saud Bin-Abdul Aziz after the gap of 26 years.
Like Iran too, the relationship with Saudi Arabia is mainly about India’s energy requirements, as suggested by a detailed graph by the author. The story of India’s economic growth cannot be divorced from energy security concerns as India imports 75 per cent of its energy requirement and is the world’s sixth-largest consumer (p. 205). The economic trade thrived remarkably in the first decade of the twenty-first century, but the graph indicates that trade balance is skewed highly in favour of Saudi Arabia. Two-way flow of investment has shaped the relation as very cordial, particularly after India adopted the policy of liberalisation and foreign direct investment (FDI).
Of late, the growing defence ties have provided a further boost to the bilateral relations because internal security is the common concern of both the countries. The common concern regarding security has morphed into a strategic one in recent years, when Indian Navy made a port call at Jubail port in 2011. The story was further strengthened when Saudi regime deported a few wanted terror accused for involvement in several attacks in India.
Apart from a section on Saudi Arabia and Iran, this volume gives a a good graphic account of India’s relationship with other countries of Persian Gulf like Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Yemen. For instance, Mr Mushtaq Hussain, in his chapter on Bahrain, offers a glimpse of Bahrain’s history and the mass protest witnessed in the country in the backdrop of the Arab Spring and how it was a challenge for India to maintain traditional ties given the sensitive nature of its Shiite–Sunni divide. Moreover, the presence of large number of Indian expatriate (400,000) there in Bahrain, accounting for more than one-third of its indigenous the population manifest a favorable climate of political and economic relationship between two (p. 47).
The author provides a detailed account of bilateral visits that took place between the dignitaries of two countries for cementing the ties. This part of the volume provides figures and index to assess the economic ties. These also show that Bahraini economy is the most diverse of all Gulf nations and that, for India, oil import from Bahrain is increasing constantly. The creation of Bahrain India Business Council is indicative of growing interest in trade with each other. The author has rightly pointed out to the US dilemma and duality in the way it dealt with the Bahrain crisis, and the duality was reflective of its deep security relations with Bahrain as Bahrain has been designated as a major non-North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ally of the US (p. 56).
Likewise, this edited volume by Professor Swamy offers a detailed account of India’s economic and political relations with other countries of the region, like Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and UAE. This volume is a valuable preface to understanding the constraints and challenges being faced by India in cementing and sustaining ties in the fast-changing globalised world, where industrial requirements and growing need of energy have overshadowed the political dynamics of the relationship. In the Indo-UAE relations particularly, the economic, commerce and trade relations have been the driving force and cementing factor. The relations with UAE are not confined to trade and commerce alone, but also involve public and private investors from both the countries.
The chapter highlighting the policy option for India in the present era enhances the relevance of the book further, and the suggestions made speak directly to our policymakers in the South Block. It speaks about the prioritisation of the Gulf region because of the importance of its oil in our foreign policy agenda and as a result, it has been designated more important than South Asia (p. 289). Political and economic engagement with the region is the necessity of the time and India needs to closely follow the fault line in the region and tread cautiously in the Shiite–Sunni divide in the Gulf region between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Further, India should also be prepared for the Arabisation of employment in the region, which might have adverse impact on the national economy.
This volume is a gripping and finely textured account and resembles an encyclopaedia of modern Arab world. It is a meticulous investigation into the history, politics and external engagement of the region. This book is an invaluable guide to the political and economic understanding of the region as it deals with the variety of issues.
The authors have succeeded in contributing to a better understanding of post-Arab Spring Persian Gulf and have drawn upon invaluable data and statistics to provide a detailed account of India’s economic reliance on the Persian Gulf. This is a must-read book if one wants to get acquainted with the modern history of the Gulf region, its political dynamics and its place in the international arena. This is also a significant volume to understand the history of cultural relationship between India and the Gulf region.