Saudi Arabia and India have forged an unprecedented relationship over the decades based on common values, shared objectives and identical approaches.
“But it is high time for India to make an all-out effort to become a real partner in many other spheres and, above all, an attractive investment destination not only for Saudi Arabia but for all Gulf countries”, said prominent Indian leader, author and former minister Mani Shankar Aiyar at a recent reception in Riyadh.
A contemporary of late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at the University of Cambridge, Aiyar, the only non-Muslim leader to serve at the India’s Aligarh Muslim University court, was in Riyadh to deliver his keynote address at a high-profile function organized by Aligarh Muslim University Old Boys Association, Riyadh chapter (AMUOBA). He was speaking at an interview at a luncheon reception hosted by Nadeem Tarin, a prominent businessman and social worker. Later that night Aiyar joined the Sir Syed Day Celebrations, which was attended by about 400 guests and AMUOBA office bearers, including Zaigham Khan, the organization’s president.
“The potential of the Gulf region including Saudi Arabia for FDI flows to India is much greater than the rest of the world together,” said Aiyar, who is also the chief of India’s Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Sanghtan. “But the visits of Indian commercial delegations to West Asia including the Gulf region are minimal in numbers compared to the visits to the Western world or South Asia. What is also lacking is an adequate understanding of the extent to which the mental attitude of the potential Gulf investors should change.” Aiyar, an author of five best-selling titles, is planning to write another major book on Pakistan with special reference to his personal emotional bonds with that country.
Aiyar, a close aide of Indian Congress President Sonia Gandhi, was born in Lahore in 1941 before his family traveled to India after the partition.
Aiyar said unemployment of Indian Muslims was one of the reasons why they have fallen into the morass of degradation and poverty
“The poor level of education, particularly among north Indian Muslims has (also) been one of the reasons,” said Aiyar, adding that Indo-Pak partition was a terrible trauma for the Muslim community because a huge segment of Muslim elite left for Pakistan at that time. “Now, there is a need for enlightened leadership in the community itself,” said Aiyar.
Asked about the plans to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Indian National Congress, he said that Congress Party President, Sonia Gandhi has drawn up a plan for year-long celebrations. He pointed out that the celebrations would start on Dec. 28.
About problems of Muslims and threats posed by Naxalites in India, he said the vision of Panchayati Raj would help Muslims while it would also curb Naxalism by lessening conditions of inequality and deprivation.
Asked about the wealth-divide in India, where number of billionaires currently exceeds that of Japan; Aiyar said: “It breaks my heart, this accelerated growth is translating into accelerated disparities, and such disparity is one of the biggest threats.”
