India and the Super Powers-Deviation or Continuity in Foreign Policy

OVER the years, as a result of a clash of roles between the United States as a superpower and India as a middle power, a structure of alignment had developed by the mid-70s whereby the US was linked with China, Pakistan and Iran, while India was linked with the Soviet Union. 1 Although surface appearances are often deceptive, this structure of alignment seemed to have acquired a frozen quality, with the different partners apparently locked into somewhat rigid positions. Then in mid-March 1977 a momentous event occurred in India, resulting in a massive defeat for Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the ruling Congress party by the Janata party consisting of a leadership that she had put in jail prior to the elections.