No long-term impact on India’s ties with West Asia

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu was on a tour to Doha on June 4, when Qatar’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Soltan bin Saad Al-Muraikhi, summoned New Delhi’s envoy to the Persian Gulf nation, Deepak Mittal, to lodge protest against the comments made by the two leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of India about Prophet Mohammed.

Though Doha’s demand for an apology from New Delhi overshadowed the visit, Naidu did meet Qatar’s former ruler Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who is referred to as ‘Father Amir’ since he had abdicated the throne and handed over power to his son, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, in 2013. India sought more investments from Qatar in infrastructure, physical and digital connectivity, energy, defence and hospitality sectors. Qatar, on the other hand, asked India to explore opportunities for investments in education, pharmaceuticals and healthcare sectors in the West Asian nation.

Naidu assured the ‘Father Amir’ of New Delhi’s support to food security of Qatar, which requested India to ease restrictions on export of wheat. Qatar is the largest supplier of LNG to India. The ‘Father Amir’ reassured the vice president of Qatar’s commitment to energy partnership with India.

So, even as Qatar formally conveyed its displeasure over the remarks of the BJP leaders, Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal, on Prophet Muhammad, it showed no intent to allow the issue to escalate and derail its long-term relations with India.

Not only Qatar, none of the West Asian nations, which condemned the remarks by Sharma and Jindal, is keen to let it turn into an irritant in its relations with India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is planning to visit Abu Dhabi soon for a meeting with President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who of late formally took over as the leader of the United Arab Emirates after his half-brother Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s death following prolonged illness. Modi and Mohammed bin Zayed have developed a personal rapport with each other over the past few years and played key roles in finalizing the India-UAE Free Trade Agreement, which was signed early this year with the objective of expanding bilateral trade from $ 60 billion to $ 100 billion over the next five years. The UAE did protest the remarks by the BJP leaders on Prophet Muhammad, but it also noted that they were quickly expelled from the ruling party of India. So did Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

New Delhi is also expecting an early visit by Qatar’s Amir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.