Abstract

This thesis explores Soviet cultural diplomacy efforts in India during the late 1950s and the beginning of the 1960s. This was a time when Indian foreign policy of neutrality in
the Cold War was challenged by a conflict with communist China. The Soviet Union found itself in a difficult position because it did not want to lose ties with communist China nor friendly relations with India. This gave the US an opportunity to drag India on their side of the Cold War. India was important for both superpowers because it was one of the leaders of the nonaligned movement of Asian and African countries. The US
ideological influence had great advantages in India because of the status of English which was, thanks to the British colonial heritage, the language of elites in general and of higher education in particular. The Soviet Union nevertheless launched an array of programs for
India: student exchanges, books and newspapers in Indian languages, as well as film exchanges. The USSR tried its best to convince Indians that a socialist country could be a superpower and that Indians too could achieve the same level of development if they took the Communist path.