Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's speech at a dinner to Soviet leaders in Moscow
September 28, 1971

I am very happy to have come to your country and talked with your leaders. I am especially happy that the General Secretary, Mr. Brezhnev, was able to join the talks. I believe that our talks have been useful and that they will certainly lead to better understanding between us.

The recently signed Indo-Soviet Treaty for Peace, Friendship and Co-operation has been widely welcomed by the peoples of India and the U.S.S.R. We have had a long tradition of friendship between our two Governments and, if I may say so, between the peoples of the Soviet Union and India, but this Treaty has certainly brought us closer and has improved the prospects of our co-operation.

As you remarked this morning, Mr. Prime Minister, our friendship is not based on a passing whim but on certain fundamental policies.

The close relationship between the Soviet Union and India has been a long and memorable one. Our friendship has grown with each passing year. In the international field we have a close identity of views on major world problems. We have stood together in the councils of the world in the struggle against colonialism, imperialism and the exploitation of man by man. We share a common belief in peaceful co-existence and co-operation of States with differing social systems. We agree that the policy of non-alignment pursued by India is a dynamic force which can help to reduce tension in the world. We believe in the right of a people to shape their own destiny according to their own national genius. And both our countries have a deep abhorrence of war, and believe in general and complete disarmament.

Bilaterally, the co-operation between the Soviet Union and India has been of immense mutual benefit. It has greatly strengthened the public sector of our economy in vital branches like steel, petroleum and other basic and heavy industries. Our trade turnover has increased phenomenally over the years, particularly after the agreement on the rupee payment system. What is perhaps of greater significance than increase in the volume of our trade, has been its changing pattern. The Soviet Union is now supplying India with larger quantities of industrial raw materials, sophisticated machinery and technical know-how, while at the same time importing more of manufactured and semi-manufactured goods from India. There are also good possibilities of multilateral co-operation in many spheres. I regard all these as signs of a healthy and dynamic relationship, and I am confident that in the years to come our co-operation will grow stronger.

During our struggle for independence, we thought that once we were free we would pursue uninterruptedly the path of progress. But, from time to time thereafter, we found that the freedom we had won was never secure, that one had to fight and struggle for it year after year. We have faced enormous difficulties on our path of securing for our people the rights which they should have.

Recently, the people of India gave their support to our policies in a very clear-cut manner. They turned the General Elections from merely a party election to a "People's Election".

But, before we could begin to fulfil the promises which we had made to them during the elections, events took place in a neighbouring country, which, for no fault of ours, placed a tremendous burden on our Government and on the people of India.

The burden is a financial one; it is a political one; it is one connected with security problems.

The events which were an " internal problem " of a neighbouring country have become very much " our problem ", in fact " an international problem ".

We have today in our country foreign nationals in numbers large enough to constitute the population of New Zealand and Sweden combined.

We are treating them as guests-but we have no doubt that these people must go back to their homes in peace and safety. Otherwise, peace cannot be secured in our part of the world.

Even before this, our people have faced many difficulties with courage and unity and I have no doubt that they will face this situation also in that spirit.

I have been to Moscow and other parts of the Soviet Union several times, and on every occasion I have been received with great friendship and warmth. I should like to take this opportunity once more to thank you, and through you all the Soviet people, for their friendship which 1 regard as the friendship for India and for Indian people.

We have had the pleasure and the privilege of having Chairman Kosygin and many other Soviet friends in India in the past. And now, in the next few days, we will have the privilege of receiving President Podgorny in India for a short while.

I sincerely hope that Mr. Brezhnev will also pay us a visit one of these days.

Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

May I request you to rise and drink a toast to the health of Chairman Kosygin and leaders of the Soviet Union, to the happiness of the people of the Soviet Union, to the friendship of our two countries and, if I may add, to the Indo-Soviet Treaty for Peace, Friendship and Co-operation?

Source: Bangladesh Documents, vol – II, p. 239-240