G20 Summit: The pragmatic context of India-Saudi ties

The deepening New Delhi-Riyadh ties have meant that the kind of support Islamabad was seeking from the desert kingdom on Kashmir has simply not been there

It was February 19, 2019, just over four months after the assassination of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Brushing aside the raging controversy, PM Narendra Modi was at the airport to receive the all-powerful Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), on his first trip to India, in a special gesture signifying the importance New Delhi attaches to its ties with Riyadh.

MBS had then not taken on the additional mantle of PM, which he did only in late September this year. But he held the portfolio of defence, and, more importantly, had been declared heir to the throne by his father, the octogenarian King Salman bin Abdulaziz, in 2017.

Since becoming the Crown Prince, MBS has assiduously consolidated his power in the desert kingdom. But for all the reforms he has introduced in his ultra-conservative and insular nation, he's also known to brook no dissent and crackdowns on those who question the authoritarian regime continue unabatedly.

New Delhi was hoping to repeat the red carpet welcome for the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia during his stopover for a few hours en route to Bali (Indonesia) for the G-20 summit. Disappointingly, the visit did not materialise, ostensibly due to "scheduling" issues. MBS and Modi are now expected to meet on the margins of the G-20 summit.

MBS has now also postponed his November 21 visit to Pakistan. Embarrassingly for Islamabad, PM Shehbaz Sharif had gone ahead and announced the visit, indicating to his countrymen that financial help was on the way from a "brotherly country."

MBS virtually made back-to-back visits to India and Pakistan in February 2019. Mindful of New Delhi's sensitivities, Riyadh had then made sure he returned to Saudi Arabia for a few hours and then travelled to India instead of flying directly to New Delhi from Islamabad.

For India, the desert kingdom remains a crucial element of its strategic calculus, and not just because it's a provider of energy security. The two countries have in place a Strategic Partnership Council, and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia has invested about $2.8 billion in India's digital and retail sectors.

Saudi Arabia is the 17th largest investor in India, and as of March 2021, its investments amounted to $3.13 billion. Saudi Arabia is also India's fourth largest trading partner, and in FY 2021-22, bilateral trade touched the $42.8 billion mark.

The kingdom is a provider of much-needed crude oil and investments, is a valuable trade partner and is home to the largest Indian community in the Gulf, with 2.2 million Indians working there and sending valuable remittances home. Coupled with India's geo-strategic imperatives, it's not difficult to fathom why the New Delhi-Riyadh clinch is becoming ever tighter.

External affairs minister S Jaishankar told Saudi diplomats during his visit to Riyadh in September that "our collaboration holds the promise of shared growth, prosperity, stability, security and development" while underlining the importance of India-Saudi strategic relationship "at a time when the world is at crossroads."

Driven by each other's economic and strategic needs, neither has allowed hiccups along the way, such as the recent derogatory remarks made by a BJP spokesperson against Prophet Mohammed, to cast a shadow on the bilateral relationship. While Saudi Arabia, like the rest of the Islamic world, did condemn the remarks, it allowed matters to rest there, to India's huge relief.

Earlier, MBS faced considerable opprobrium from many western nations for the US-based Jamal Khashoggi's murder inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, in October 2018. The CIA claimed MBS ordered the killing, while he stoutly denied it. India, however, welcomed MBS with open arms soon after.

A few months later, Saudi Arabia refrained from issuing a strong statement when the Indian government decided to nullify Jammu and Kashmir's special status under Article 370. Riyadh merely called for a peaceful resolution to the Kashmir issue, even as Pakistan seethed with rage.

The deepening New Delhi-Riyadh ties have meant that the kind of support Islamabad was seeking from the desert kingdom on the Kashmir issue has simply not been there. In fact, Islamabad even managed to anger Riyadh when it sought to have a meeting of the Saudi-led Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Kashmir.

During the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, both India and Saudi Arabia have been on the wrong side of the US and its allies on the issue of Russian oil. India has continued to buy Russian oil at discounted rates, undeterred by the threat of sanctions by the G-7, which has threatened to put a cap on purchases from Russia. India has rightly watched out for its own interests, with Russia displacing Saudi Arabia as its top oil supplier earlier this month.

While India's decision hasn't strained its ties with the US yet, Riyadh is facing Washington's wrath after the Saudi-led OPEC Plus group and Russia decided to cut oil production. The decision is likely to benefit Russia by pushing up oil prices, which has left the US fuming and President Joe Biden warning Riyadh of "consequences."

That Biden and MBS have had no love lost between them for some time is by now an open secret. Biden may have "no plans" to meet MBS at the G-20 meet, but ignoring Riyadh is not an option for India. In a world in the midst of tremendous geo-political flux, India has to keep its strategic interests in mind.

(The writer is a senior Delhi-based journalist)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.