Why does a tiny besieged Nation,
Israel, raises heartbeats of Indian Statesmen? Why are India-Israel aggressively
romanticizing relationships, when India is overtly pro-Arab and Israel a
hardcore anti-Muslim state?
The roots of India's
anti-Israel stand goes 7 decades back when India and Israel got their
independence in 1947 and 1948 respectively.
Just after independence from
British, out of anti-British-American disposition, because of centuries of
servitude, Jawaharlal Nehru, first prime minister of India moulded India into
Pro-Muslim-Communist-Soviet state, while Israel became American surrogate in Middle East.
After decades of isolation from
Israel under Nehru-Gandhi regime due to pro-Arab policy, Impotent India
socialist government, after the collapse of USSR in late 1980s, keeled down to
United States, and the route they chose was none other than - Israel.
When USSR failed to aid India
against economic and military crisis during 1991-92, India felt obliged to bow
down to US via appeasing Jewish state.
In-spite of dramatic shift in
India’s foreign policy, as a Pakistan's closest ally, US, seemed reluctant to
help India economically and militarily in early 1990s financial crisis, leaving
India with only one time-tested option for advanced and affordable military
technology- Israel.
Amid all odds, Indo-Israel
ties began to gain some momentum during Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata
Party government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1998-2004), with then Indian
foreign minister Jaswant Singh (2000) visiting Israel followed by first visit
of an Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2003.
However, all the advancements
in bilateral relations made by BJP government were reversed with the return of
UPA-1 (Left-Liberals) between 2004 and 2014. Nonetheless, imports of weapons
and covert exchange of intelligence information continued.
The string of bilateral
visits has been resumed with the comeback of BJP government since May 2014, and
has once again paved a way for rise of two pre-historic civilisations.
In last 3 years of Modi government, Indian home minister
Rajnath Singh, President Pranab Mukherjee and foreign minister Sushma Swaraj have
had been to Israel, while Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, defence Minister
Moshe Ya’alon visited India.
As we celebrate silver
jubilee of Indo-Israel ties, let’s hope Narendra Modi’s 3-day visit (first by
an Indian Prime Minister) to Israel starting from July 4 would take the
Hindu-Jewish unity to greater heights to lead the world.
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