Indian Foreign Policy

5	Interventions and explosions Whither an ethical modernity?

In this and the next chapter I explore the period in Indian foreign policy following the end of the Nehru era, during which the Congress Party's dominance of Indian politics came under heightened challenge. This chapter examines two significant events during this period, India's involvement in the creation of Bangladesh in 1971 and the exploding of a nuclear device in 1974. Both the intervention and the nuclear explosion were undertaken by the administration led by Indira Gandhi who dominated Indian politics unlike any other Prime Minister, except for her father, and is remembered by many as the leader that rid Indian foreign policy of its Nehruvian idealism (Dixit 2004, Mansingh ...