2024-07-08 09:05:41
Moscow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi left on Monday, July 8, for a three-day foreign tour of two countries. In the first leg of the visit, he will reach Moscow, the capital of Russia, where he will hold a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. After spending two days in Russia, PM Modi will go to Austria. But today we will talk about Russia, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going for the first time after the start of the Ukraine war. Along with this, the question arises that when the countries of the world are distancing themselves from Putin, why did Modi choose Russia for his first foreign visit after taking charge as Prime Minister for the third time? The answer to this is hidden in the decades-old friendship between Russia and India, which has not weakened till date. Both friends have proved this by supporting each other many times in difficult situations. India and Russia already had relations, but the foundation of its strength was laid on 9 August 1971, when the foreign ministers of both the countries signed the Indo-Soviet Treaty in New Delhi. At that time Russia was known as the Soviet Union (USSR). The think tank Observer Research Foundation has called it the most important treaty of India’s foreign policy in the 20th century, which affected everything from the politics of South Asia to its geography. It proved India’s superiority in the region.
What role did Bangladesh play in the peace treaty?
Many believe that India signed the treaty primarily for this reason, given the tensions in then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in 1971 and the creation of Bangladesh later that year, but this is a superficial view. It has been refuted by Srinath Raghavan in his well-researched book 1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh. Raghavan writes that discussions on the treaty began some years before it was signed – the first to be precise – in 1969.
US Secretary of State’s secret visit to China
Initially, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was also hesitant about the treaty. In fact, she was embroiled in a conflict with the Congress Party leadership in 1969. Not only this, Indira Gandhi was also hesitant about signing the document during the East Pakistan crisis. She was mainly worried about possible negative reactions in the US and China. But the secret visit of then US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to China in July 1971 and his subsequent talks with the Indian Prime Minister in the US on July 17 changed the situation.
Russia’s tension with China
Kissinger told Indian ambassador L.K. Jha that the US would not be involved if China intervened in a war between India and Pakistan. This rang alarm bells in Delhi and Indira Gandhi asked Indian officials to go ahead with the treaty. The treaty was signed on August 9, just a month after Kissinger’s visit to Beijing. A study of the documents of that period makes it clear that China was the inspiration for India’s treaty with Russia and the same was true for Russia. Moscow proposed the treaty to New Delhi just after the Soviet Union’s standoff with China over the Ussuri River border began in 1969. Most of the draft was ready by October 1970, while the East Pakistan crisis began in March 1971.
When America sent the Seventh Fleet
In fact, the biggest beneficiary of this treaty was Bangladesh, because due to this, external superpowers could not intervene in the crisis of East Pakistan. When the war between India and Pakistan started over East Pakistan, America decided to send its seventh fleet USS Enterprises to the Bay of Bengal. The excuse given by America behind this was that it was going to evacuate the American citizens present in East Pakistan. However, American declassified notes show that the American citizens had been evacuated a day earlier. By the time the American fleet reached, a destroyer and minesweeper of the Soviet Union had reached this area. The Soviet destroyer followed the American fleet and stayed there until it left. The Soviet Union also helped India in the United Nations. The Soviet Union vetoed three proposals brought in the United Nations Security Council regarding ceasefire.