1971: When Delhi and Moscow came together.. Shri Radhey Shri Radhey.

On August 9, 1971, the Indo-Soviet Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation was signed in New Delhi by the foreign ministers of both countries, Swaran Singh and Andrei Gromyko. The treaty was probably the most seminal foreign policy arrangement entered into by India in the 20th century. It undoubtedly had the most profound effect on the politics and geography of South Asia, cementing what many thought was the pre-eminence of India in the region.

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Given the tensions over East Pakistan in 1971 and the creation of Bangladesh by the end of that year, it is not surprising that many believe that India was primarily driven to sign the treaty by this crisis. But that is a superficial picture, countered through some superb research by Srinath Raghavan in his book 1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh. When supplemented with a reading of the relevant portions of Jairam Ramesh’s excellent book, Intertwined Lives: PN Haksar and Indira Gandhi, it should provide a comprehensive understanding of how the treaty came to be signed.