Today, as we celebrate the 81st birth anniversary of late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, it may be appropriate to revisit his spectacular success in the conduct of India's foreign policy.
No nation's foreign policy can be successful unless it is so with its neighbours. He therefore gave high priority to developing friendship with countries of South and Southeast Asia while, at the same time, giving a boost to economic and political relations with the West and global powers.
The mature handling and statesmanship displayed by India’s youngest ever Prime Minister, whose contribution to international affairs, as stated by then President R Venkataraman, "Lived up to the standards set by Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi..."
"The very fact that as many as 63 world leaders joined his funeral procession bore testimony to the stature that Rajiv had acquired among world statesmen in the short span of five years during which he was the Prime Minister.”
Early Challenges and Pakistan
When the 40-year-old Rajiv Gandhi took over as the country’s Prime Minister, he had inherited many problems, some of which were not really within India’s control, like the nuclearisation of Pakistan, the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka and China’s militant attitude on the border. But Rajiv did not let the constraints take over his policy and made earnest efforts to get over them and succeeded in giving a new direction to India’s relations with these countries.
Rajiv’s Pakistan policy was a great success. During the rule of both Zia-ul-Haq and Benazir Bhutto, he took many initiatives to improve India–Pakistan ties.
With Zia, he concluded an extremely significant agreement whereby both the countries undertook not to attack each other’s nuclear installations. When democracy returned to Pakistan with the election of Benazir Bhutto, Rajiv visited the country, the first Prime Minister after Jawaharlal Nehru to do so in 28 years. He tried to start a new era in relations with Pakistan which would have happened in his second term that was never to be, due to the human bomb that consumed him on the eve of his assured return to power.
The Sri Lanka Accord
When Rajiv Gandhi took over, the situation in Sri Lanka had been deteriorating. State violence against Tamils was on the increase. This was also having an adverse effect on the psyche of people in Tamil Nadu and Tamilians settled in other South Indian states. They wanted the atrocities against Sri Lanka’s Tamils stopped, and launched agitations to compel New Delhi to take early action.
It was under these circumstances that the India–Sri Lanka Accord of August 1987 was signed. Rajiv Gandhi believed it would safeguard the life and property of Tamils and also protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka.
Though the accord came in for criticism from many quarters, it managed to achieve both its short-term and long-term objectives, even though it took many years for its full realisation. But the cost was too high: the precious life of Rajiv Gandhi himself.
Renewed Ties with China
Under Rajiv Gandhi’s leadership, ties with China acquired new momentum. He visited China in December 1988, the first Prime Minister after Jawaharlal Nehru to do so in over three decades. The long handshake between Deng Xiaoping and Rajiv Gandhi symbolised the new spirit in the relationship of both countries. Rajiv Gandhi displayed both dynamism and pragmatism in removing tensions between the two neighbours and worked out a new mechanism to deliberate upon the border problem. Rajiv Gandhi held fast to three parameters in relations with China.
First, India and China should continue to extend and deepen their dialogue and exchange information and personnel in various fields, and improve relations. Second, the border issue was a central issue and must be addressed, but it should not be the only concern of this relationship. Third, India should not ignore acquisition of a certain measure of strength, maintaining the defence preparedness and looking after its interests.
Regional Cooperation and SAARC
India went to the rescue of the Maldives in 1988 when its sovereignty and territorial integrity were in danger. Rajiv Gandhi gave the highest priority to regional cooperation in South Asia. He believed a number of complex problems of the countries of the region were similar and could be solved with joint efforts. He reiterated that the SAARC countries were linked by age-old ties which could lead them to collective cooperation. At the inauguration of the SAARC summit in Dhaka on 7 December 1985, Rajiv Gandhi said:
“We of South Asia constitute one-fifth of the world’s population. Cooperation amongst us constitutes cooperation with a vast segment of humanity… All seven of us continue to be confronted with formidable problems of poverty, illiteracy, malnutrition and disease. We have to overcome these problems in a highly adverse external environment. South Asian cooperation points the way to collective self-reliance.”
Nuclear Disarmament and Global Role
According to foreign affairs analyst VP Dutt, Rajiv Gandhi concentrated his energies on five areas of foreign policy: the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), the African struggle and apartheid, relations with big powers, nuclear disarmament and relations with at least three neighbours – China, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The Six Nation–Five Continent Summit on Disarmament and the Action Plan for Nuclear Disarmament presented at the UN were the major initiatives Rajiv Gandhi undertook in a bid to achieve his cherished dream of a world free of nuclear weapons.
Dutt adds:
“He had learnt well the lesson that India got in the last years of the Jawaharlal Nehru era, that the country needed a measure of both economic and defence strength to meet hostile foreign challenges.”
Under Rajiv Gandhi, a very considerable push was given to raising India’s defence power, particularly with the launching of Agni and Prithvi missiles. He presided over the largest expansion ever of India’s defence forces. Defence expenditure doubled during his five years in office as his government strove to modernise the armed forces.
While Rajiv Gandhi preached peace and disarmament wherever he went, his politics towards India's neighbours suggested he was more prepared than his predecessors to use the coercive power of India's military might for foreign policy ends. Behind his statesmanship lay a steely determination to ensure the country's military rise, following his mother and predecessor, Indira Gandhi, whose indomitable courage and political leadership gave India its greatest-ever military and diplomatic victory.
A Legacy Cut Short
Unfortunately, the young leader's life was cut short, sending shock waves throughout the world. As the then Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat lamented, “Had fate spared our martyred friend, the history of modern India would have witnessed one of the greatest giants who ruled India or were destined to rule it.”
(Praveen Davar (Praveen Davar is the ex-secretary of All India Congress Committee (AICC), ex-Army officer, a columnist and the author of 'Freedom Struggle and Beyond'. This is an opinion piece, and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)