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Modi’s Visit And Saudi-India Relations

By Sazzad Hussain

06 April, 2016
Countercurrents.org

Prime Minister Narendar Modi’s recent visit to oil-rich Gulf monarchy of Saudi Arabia coincides in a time when the ever volatile Middle-East and West Asia has been experiencing a change in their geo-politics vis-à-vis the world order. Iran has been embraced to the global partnership of trade and diplomacy following the landmark agreement on its nuclear programmes and the battle against the deadly IS has been considerably won by the regime forces in Syria. At the same time Modi’s visit to the kingdom is significant so far as Indian Muslims are concerned. The monarchy which endorses and exports a brand of Islam that homogenizes Muslims across the world at the cost of local diversities has been a matter of concern for a nation of pluralistic culture and inclusive society like India. Therefore a multitude of questions and apprehensions remain following the Prime Minister’s visit to Riyadh and on the India-Saudi relations in the changing world order.

Saudi Arabia, founded in 1932 by Ibn Saud with British help has been occupying centre stage in the world affairs for two major reasons—first to be the protector of the two most holiest sites of Islam and second for its oil. The Saudi king overtook the control of the two grand mosques of Mecca and Medina, earlier controlled by Ottomans and since then the royal family has been enjoying the awe and reverence from Muslims around the world, particularly for the annual Haj. Secondly the discovery of oil in that kingdom in 1939 made Roosevelt to forge a lifelong tie of America for its energy demands. These two aspects of Saudi Arabia has put the country in a unique position in the world enjoying allegiance from a vast population transcending political or territorial borders and the protection from a mighty superpower who is not interested on the undemocratic set up of the kingdom. Indian Muslims, like any from other countries, had a regular touch with the kingdom for the Haj and it flourished during the British colonial period. The British shipping companies earned a lot of money during that period by arranging tour packages for Indian pilgrims. As India gained independence after WWII, Saudi Arabia allied with America in the Cold-War scenario. It started to follow a pro-western policy at the same time perusing an Islamist agenda. So it set up OIC (Organization of Islamic Conference) to form a group of countries having large Muslim populations. Though India was following a non-aligned policy based on Nehruvian socialism and secularism, it was invited to join the OIC for its large Muslim population. New Delhi too responded by sending its agriculture minister Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed to it summit in Rabat in 1969. But India could not become a member due to opposition from Pakistan, a move which was silently agreed by Riyadh. After that Saudi Arabia’s policy was always tilted towards Pakistan. It was also instrumental in supporting the military dictatorship of Gen. Zia-ul-Haq in Pakistan that Islamized (read Arabized) the country from South Asian elements.

Saudi Arabia again came to the prominence as a global player when it successfully increased the oil prices by imposing an oil-embargo against the west in 1974. That incident, which created OPEC, was responsible for the oil-boom that reshaped the Gulf region to be the hub of the global rich economy. Empowered by the massive oil revenue, Riyadh started to stretch out its influence in different places of the world through Islam. Ever since its inception, Saudi Arabia has been the upholder of Wahhabism, a strict and militant form of Islam called Salafism that reject any local element in Islam to be impure. The Saudi outreach spread Wahhabism as the purest form of Islam in Muslim societies across the globe funding seminaries and religious congregations. This petro-Islam served the Cold-War designs of America very much whose battlefront was set on the Af-Pak border following the entry of Soviet troops in Kabul. The Afghan Mujahedeen, which was made to attract transnational volunteers created Osama bin-Laden, a Saudi subject. The Saudis too backed Iraq’s Saddam Hussain, a Sunni to fight a decade long war with Shiite Iran following the 1979 Revolution which had toppled pro-west Shah Pahlavi. India was opposed to both these hostilities and suffered a lot as the Afghan jihadist later reinforced on Kashmir from 1989 after the Soviet pull out. India also suffered the Kandahar hijacking at the hands of Taliban installed in Kabul in 1996 by Pakistan with Saudi help. Now the same Saudi regime is soft towards IS.

Meanwhile the Wahhabi elements of Islam, exported by Saudi Arab destroyed the age old Islamic heritage of Islam in India which was Sufi, inclusive and diverse. The prevalent domestic crisis of communalism and this Saudi petro-Islam pushed the Indian Muslims further to the corner with increased burqa system and self-alienation as well as a distance between Shiites and Sunnis.

Despite these India has never been hostile towards the kingdom. The Saudi King Abdullah bin-Abdul Aziz was the official guest in Republic Day Parade in 2006. Earlier King Fahd bin-Abdul Aziz attended the NAM Summit in New Delhi in 1983. Prime Minister Modi visit to Riyadh is important because of the presence of a large Indian expatriates there. On many occasions these Indians face problems from being the victim of fraudulent placement to abuse by employers, jails and deportations and even executions. The agreements signed between the two nations during Modi’s visit are expected to address problems of Indian expatriates in Saudi Arab. Though there was an agreement on non-oil economic sector, we expected a favourable bilateral oil deal between the two countries following the slash of global oil prices. Or India should reconsider the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project inked during the NDA government which was later abandoned by the UPA following American pressure. As Iran is emerging to be a major regional power in the Middle-East following the lifting of the sanctions, India should be extra cautious in its relations with Riyadh because the Saudis consider Tehran to be their arch enemies. As President Bashar al-Assad’s army has been recapturing the territories from the IS in Syria, New Delhi should extend support to Damascus to contribute its role in the war against terror. However it is Saudi Arabia which is opposed to the Assad regime, a secular establishment which is crucial for checking radical Islamist militancy in that region and for the honourable settlement of the Palestinian conflict—the issues that New Delhi is committed to.

The writer is a freelancer based in Assam

 




 



 

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