Jawaharlal Nehru with (right) Gamal Abdel Nasser and Indira Gandhi at the Palam airbase in New Delhi in April 1955

New Delhi, July 4: The tanks rolling down the streets of Cairo after the ouster of Egypt’s first elected President Mohamed Mursi have also driven to the ground Indian efforts to quietly revive a historic relationship after three decades of neglect.

From symbolism to strategy, New Delhi has over the past year used its position as the world’s largest democracy and its growing economic and military clout to revive memories of the close friendship shared by Jawaharlal Nehru and Gamal Abdel Nasser.

Mursi’s overthrow and the uncertainty over the future path Egypt’s military generals — now in charge — will choose have pushed India back to the drawing board, scrambling for clues from Cairo instead of building on any gains since the Arab Spring.

“We are closely monitoring the evolving situation in Egypt,” Syed Akbaruddin, spokesperson and joint secretary in the ministry of external affairs, said today. “As the world’s largest democracy, India was among the first countries to welcome the 25th January revolution and the promise of genuine democracy in a large and important country like Egypt with which we have traditionally enjoyed close and friendly ties.”

Nehru, independent India’s first Prime Minister, and Nasser, Egypt’s second President after the 1952 revolution in his country, were founders of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) of countries that chose not to camp with either the US or the USSR during the Cold War.

Nehru famously backed Nasser to the hilt during the Suez War in 1956. Driven by their broadly converging diplomatic policies, the two countries shared strong economic, and even defence, ties in the 1950s and the 1960s.

But the three decades that former President Hosni Mubarak ruled Egypt saw ties between the two countries weaken significantly.

Few teenagers in Delhi today show any flicker of recognition for the name of Nasser as they drive down one of the capital’s major roads named after him, near Hauz Khas.

After Mubarak was unseated, India’s Election Commission helped Egypt conduct the elections that brought Mursi to power.

Mursi requested the BRICS grouping — consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — to expand and include Egypt. He visited India in March this year, signing multiple agreements and seeking Indian co-operation in defence.

“There was the beginning of a turnaround but it would require the completion of the political transition in Egypt,” said Swashpawan Singh, former Indian ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva who was earlier the deputy chief at the Cairo mission. “India was willing and still is to offer whatever assistance Egypt will require with its electoral processes and economic progress.”

New Delhi viewed Mursi’s government as attempting to balance the traditionally close ties that the Egyptian military has enjoyed with the US, with approaches to emerging powers like the BRICS nations. Mursi’s call for greater defence co-operation with India bolstered this view.

Within the emerging powers, India saw its position as a stable democracy as an asset in strengthening ties with Egypt after Mubarak.

India sent indelible ink from Mysore for Cairo to use in the 2012 presidential polls. It offered prototypes of electoral voting machines (EVMs) for Egyptians to build their own. Late in 2012, the Election Commission signed an understanding with its Egyptian counterpart for continued co-operation.

During his visit this March, Mursi urged Indian corporate giants like the Tatas to invest more in Egypt. India is currently Egypt’s seventh-largest trading partner.