1991: How P. V. Narasimha Rao Made History

by Sanjaya Baru

Stuck in their diplomatic comfort zone ever since Moscow and Delhi signed a Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation in August 1971; enjoying the benefits of a rupee-rouble bilateral trade arrangement; and corrupted by the benefits of KGB largesse, India’s political and diplomatic leaders were slow to grasp the nature of change underway in the Soviet Union.

India wished to get out of the West Asian trap by maintaining good relations with all regional powers—Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt and Israel. Finally, Israel opened new doors for India in the United States. The powerful Jewish lobby in the US held the key to many doors in the corridors of power and wealth along the US East Coast.

when the US still enjoyed overwhelming military power, only a few scholars like Samuel Huntington at Harvard, were emphasizing the importance of economic power.