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India has been slow to break its silence over street protests across Burma this month even though it has strong geographical, political and strategic links with its eastern neighbour.

On Wednesday, the foreign ministry spokesman expressed concern at developments over the border, calling for peaceful and “broad-based” political reforms.

But Delhi’s unease over the protests was clearly illustrated when Petroleum Minister Murli Deora left for the troubled south-east Asian country at the weekend.

Before leaving, he ran into a protest by Burmese pro-democracy activists in Delhi.

The protesters carried placards reading “Deora, don’t go for gas, go for democracy” and “India stop supporting Burmese military rule”.

As Deora reached Burma, the huge street protests against Burma’s military rulers were beginning to peak.

India’s reticence over developments in Burma dates back as least as far as 1988, when the military brutally crushed student protests.

A senior Indian external ministry official said on Wednesday that India was “closely watching the developments in Burma”.

But he was quick to add: “We have no desire to interfere in the internal affairs of Burma.”

An official statement on Deora’s visit said: “He had wide-ranging discussions to explore the possibilities of enhancing bilateral co-operation in the hydrocarbon sector with Burma’s Energy Minister, Brig Gen Lun Thi.”

Deora was also present on Monday at the signing of Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) for three deep-water exploration blocks between India’s ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) and Burma’s Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) .

“These contracts are a happy development and augur well for expanding the co-operation between the two neighbours,” Mr Deora said on his return to India.

When it comes to Burma, the priority for the world’s largest democracy under economist Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is now quite clear.

With a fast-growing economy, India is desperate to access any major source of energy in the neighbourhood from Iran to Burma and beyond.

Burma’s huge natural gas reserves in the country’s western province of Arakan and the adjoining seaboard, estimated at more than 30 trillion cubic feet or even more, is a great atraction for energy-starved India.

“India and not China should be geting this gas. It is vital for the economy of eastern India,” said Nazib Arif, former secretary general of the Indian Chamber of Commerce.

India says it is geting help from the Burmese army to fight insurgents in its troubled north-east, many of whom have bases in Burma’s Sagaing Division.

“India is desperate to counter Chinese influence in Burma. This, more than anything else, explains India’s complete reversal of its Burma policy in the 1990s,” says Rene Egreteau, author of an acclaimed book on India’s Burma policy, Wooing the Generals.

India is now developing ports, building roads and railways and is competing with China for Burma’s oil and gas reserves as part of its “Look East Policy”.