With PM Modi’s Austria visit, a look back at Indira Gandhi’s trip 41 years ago

PM Modi’s visit came around 41 years after former PM Indira Gandhi visited Austria in June 1983. What was the context then and what were the visit’s highlights?

The Eurotrip

Indira Gandhi’s visit to Austria between June 17–22 in 1983 was her second visit there as Prime Minister, the first being in 1971. It was part of a larger European trip, which included visits to Norway, Finland, Denmark and Yugoslavia.

In the book India and Europe in a Changing World: Context, Confrontation, Cooperation (2023), professor Rajendra K Jain from the Centre for European Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, wrote that the visit was to enhance India’s economic links with these countries. Then Austrian Chancellor Fred Sinowatz said “Indo-Austrian political relations were ‘extremely cordial’, but economic relations were far below their potential”, Jain wrote.

The Prime Minister was accompanied by a delegation that included External Affairs Minister PV Narasimha Rao, Defence Minister R Venkataraman, Energy Minister P Shiv Shankar, and Minister for Industry, ND Tiwari.

What issues were discussed?

Economic downturn: In Austria, the economic downturn at the time handed the Austrian Socialist Party (SPÖ) a defeat in the 1983 elections, ending the term of Sinowatz’s predecessor Bruno Kreisky, the country’s longest-serving Chancellor.

According to Jain, Kreisky was among the earliest Western statesmen to focus on the “imbalance in iniquities in the international economic system.” This was also reflected in Austria’s support for a New International Economic Order that sought to eliminate the widening gap between newly decolonised, underdeveloped countries and industrialised developed nations.

Gandhi also inaugurated and delivered the keynote address at the Indo-West European Dialogue Congress in Alpbach, where she stressed the need for economic development of the global south.

Political crises in India: The two leaders also discussed the domestic political situation in India. “Much of her (Gandhi’s) time was spent in explaining the situation in Punjab and Assam; these two issues dogged her at every press conference,” the book says.

While the Assam Anti-Foreigners Agitation was ongoing, particularly against the entry of Bangladeshis to India in the wake of the Bangladesh War of 1971, the government decided to host the Assam elections. A section of people disagreed with her decision to allow immigrant Bengali Muslims the right to vote.

Tensions came to a head in the early hours of February 18, 1983, as the Nellie Massacre unfolded within six hours and claimed a toll of nearly 2,000 people from 14 villages. The government nevertheless held the elections as scheduled.

In Punjab, Operation Blue Star had been conducted mere days before the Austria trip. In an attempt to remove Sikh militant JS Bhindranwale from the premises of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the Indian Army entered the Sikh holy shrine. This led to severe discontent among many Sikhs against the government, adding to the politically tense situation in the country.

Outcomes

After the imposition of the Emergency in India in 1975, many viewed Gandhi as a break from India’s democratic tradition. Jain wrote that former Chancellor Kreisky was also “dismayed” at the move but did not make any public criticisms. “After the arrest of George Fernandes, Chairman of the Indian Socialist Party, in June 1976 he (Kreisky) addressed several joint telegrams… to Indira Gandhi.”

In this context, her foreign visits were seen as an attempt to continue her father’s legacy of reaching out to like-minded nations. Her trip was also followed by Chancellor Sinowatz’s visit to India in 1984.

One important outcome was the establishment of the Indo-Austrian Economic Commission. It remains active and sees cooperation between the two countries’ governmental Ministries and Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

“There has been cooperation in the fields of steel, manufacturing technology, railway and transport, renewables, equipment, metallurgy through a large number of collaborations, technology transfers and joint ventures,” according to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs website.