Indo-Soviet Treaty of Peace and Friendship

Also called: Indo-Soviet Treaty 1971 · Topic: India's External Relations, 1947-1999: Non-alignment, Wars and Nuclear Policy · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 4 "India's External Relations"

Meaning

The Indo-Soviet Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation was a 20-year treaty between India and the USSR. It was signed on 9 August 1971 [3]. Under it, the two countries promised to consult each other at once if either was attacked or threatened with attack. It was a promise to consult, not a military alliance.

It matters because it gave India strong diplomatic support just before the Bangladesh war of 1971. It also started a lasting debate: did India move away from non-alignment by signing it?

Explanation

Why it was signed

• India faced a crisis in East Pakistan.
• The Pakistani army began Operation Searchlight on 25 March 1971. This was a crackdown on Bengali leaders, students and civilians.

• About 80 lakh (8 million) refugees fled to India. This put a heavy strain on India's border states.

• The great powers lined up against India.

• The US and China were warming to each other. This was the US–China rapprochement (a warming of ties between old enemies).
• Henry Kissinger, the US National Security Adviser, made a secret visit to China in July 1971. Pakistan arranged the trip, and he travelled through Pakistan.

• As a result, both the US and China backed Pakistan. India now faced a US–China–Pakistan axis, a group of countries acting together against it.

• The treaty was India's answer. It assured India that the Soviet Union would stand by it if India were attacked.

Key clauses

• Article IX (mutual consultation): if either country was attacked or threatened with attack, the two would consult each other at once to remove the threat.

• This was not an automatic promise to fight for each other.

• Consultation on world issues: the two countries would consult each other on world issues that affected their common interests [3].

• Article IV: the USSR respected India's policy of non-alignment. Non-alignment means not joining either Cold War military bloc and judging each issue on its merits.
• Article VIII: neither side would join a military alliance directed against the other.
• Duration: 20 years [3].

Limits: what the treaty did NOT do

• It did not create a military alliance like NATO or the Warsaw Pact.
• It gave the USSR no military bases in India.
• It did not make India a member of the Soviet bloc.
• It did not come from India's closeness to the USA. It came because the US was backing Pakistan.

In the Constitution and practice

• Constitutional basis: making treaties with foreign countries is a Union subject. It is listed in the Union List of the Seventh Schedule (the list of subjects on which only Parliament can make laws). The Union executive signs treaties. Under Article 253, Parliament can make laws to carry out a treaty.
• Use in 1971:
• Diplomatic cover: at the UN, the USSR vetoed Security Council ceasefire resolutions. These resolutions would have stopped India's operations before Bangladesh was free.
• The war: Pakistan attacked on 3 December 1971, and the war ended on 16 December 1971. It lasted 13 days [2].
• On the same day, 3 December 1971, India proclaimed a national emergency under Article 352 on the ground of "external aggression". It was India's second national emergency.
• Lt Gen A.A.K. Niazi surrendered to Lt Gen J.S. Aurora in Dhaka with about 93,000 men [4] (NCERT: about 90,000).

• The US sent a Seventh Fleet task force, led by the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, into the Bay of Bengal to pressure India. India did not stop. Soviet backing helped India hold firm.

• Outcome:

• Bangladesh became free. India recognised it on 6 December 1971.
• Indira Gandhi's popularity soared. The Congress won large majorities in the 1972 state elections.

• After 1971, the US saw India as pro-Soviet.

• Later history: the USSR broke up in 1991. The treaty was replaced in 1993 by the Indo-Russian Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation.

Don't confuse with

• Military alliance (NATO, Warsaw Pact): members must defend each other and often host each other's bases. The Indo-Soviet Treaty only promised consultation (Article IX) and gave no bases.
• Indo-Russian Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation (1993): this treaty, signed with Russia after the USSR broke up, replaced the 1971 treaty.
• Simla Agreement (1972): signed between India and Pakistan (Indira Gandhi and Z.A. Bhutto) after the war. It set up the LoC and bilateral settlement. The Indo-Soviet Treaty was signed with the USSR before the war.
• Equidistance: keeping exactly the same distance from both blocs. The treaty shows that India's non-alignment meant strategic autonomy (freedom to choose partners for its own interests), not equidistance.

Prelims Hooks

• The treaty was signed on 9 August 1971 with the USSR for 20 years [3].
• Article IX = mutual consultation if either side is attacked or threatened. Article IV = the USSR respects India's non-alignment. Article VIII = neither side joins a military alliance against the other.
• Trap: the treaty was not a military alliance, and it gave the USSR no bases in India.
• Trap (NCERT Exercise 1(d)): the treaty did not come from India's closeness to the USA. It answered the US–China–Pakistan axis.
• Kissinger's secret China visit (July 1971) was arranged through Pakistan. This is the background to the treaty.
• In 1993, the Indo-Russian Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation replaced it.

Mains Points

• Tilt or strategic autonomy? (GS-II)
• Critics: the treaty looked like joining the Soviet bloc. It made India depend on Soviet arms and Soviet vetoes, and the US saw India as pro-Soviet after 1971.
• Defenders: it was a treaty of friendship, not an alliance. It gave no bases, and the USSR formally respected non-alignment (Article IV). It answered a real two-front threat and a refugee crisis.

• Balanced view: non-alignment meant strategic autonomy, not equidistance. Today's multi-alignment (close ties with several powers at once) follows the same logic.

• Diplomacy before war (GS-I/II)

• India first built its case at home and abroad by pointing to the refugee burden.
• It secured Soviet backing through the treaty before the war.
• It acted only after Pakistan struck first, and ended with a unilateral ceasefire (India stopped fighting on its own, without waiting for an agreement).

• This made the case for India as a regional power that could defy great-power pressure such as the Seventh Fleet.

• Limits of reliance on one partner (GS-II): the treaty's value depended on the USSR. When the USSR broke up in 1991, India had to rebuild the tie through the 1993 treaty with Russia. The lesson is to spread strategic partnerships across several powers.

Related concepts

• Bangladesh Liberation War
• Mukti Bahini
• Simla Agreement
• Line of Control

Read more

• The 1971 Bangladesh war, the Indo-Soviet Treaty and the Simla Agreement