When Shaikh Sabha al-Ahamd al-Jaber al-Sabah arrives in India on Wednesday for a six-day state visit, he would be marking a new phase in Indo-Kuwaiti relationship. The brewing troubles over Iran and the resultant tensions in the Persian Gulf would figure prominently during his visit. India has significantly moved away from its erstwhile opposition to the presence of non-regional powers in the Gulf region and can now understand the security dilemmas of smaller states like Kuwait. In private deliberations with Indian leaders, the Kuwait delegation can be expected to be more candid about their apprehensions over a nuclear Iran.

But the visit will also be a milestone in the bilateral relations and signals an end to the long rupture between the two countries, following the Iraqi invasion, occupation and annexation of Kuwait in August 1990. Given that a large number of Indian workers were stranded in Kuwait in that period, none would have complained if India were to tread a delicate path.

Furthermore, there were strong political, economic and even ideological reasons that prevented India from actively criticising the Iraqi invasion. The Baathist ideology of Iraq attracted the Indian nationalists. In the post-Nasser era, they found the Iraqi leaders more in tune with their brand of secularism. This also explains why India refused to condemn Iraq for its aggression against and prolonged war with Iran in the 1980s. Indeed, until the 1990s Iraq remained India’s closest friend in the Middle East and its relations with Tehran during this period could be described as ‘correct’ rather than close.

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