Word: gandhis
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...deep concern for the poor and the weak and his skill in pushing legislation through Congress. He spoke of Winston Churchill as the pre-eminent leader of our time, of Charles de Gaulle as uniquely expressing "the ideals and hopes and pride of the French," and of Mohandas Gandhi as the embodiment of "quiet courage...
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, dressed in a crisp sari, stood in the scorching early summer heat on the north Indian plain and asked that question dozens of times in Hillaur, a small village in her parliamentary constituency of Rae Bareli. The country around her told the answer: acre after acre of sere, treeless, wind-whipped fields, most of which are worked by harijans (untouchables) who sharecrop but do not own the land. Long miles of highway are untarred. Few people can afford the 300 rupees ($33) needed to wire their homes for minimum lighting provided by two light bulbs. Electric...
...Gandhi was in this bleak corner of impoverished Uttar Pradesh state for a padayatra, the journey on foot made famous 25 years ago by Vinobha Bhave, who for years walked the length and breadth of India asking people to give up one-tenth of their land to the landless. A padayatra has become the customary way for leaders to make contact with their people. In 1959 Mrs. Gandhi walked for four days through her father Jawaharlal Nehru's Allahabad constituency. This year Indira, 58, reduced her padayatra to a mile-long, 50-min. walk through the single village...
More a publicity gesture than a genuine effort to get in touch with the masses, last week's padayatra nonetheless brought Mrs. Gandhi face to face with India's circumstances. "Do you go to school?" she asked one girl. The answer: No, because there is no high school in Hillaur. Uttar Pradesh's education minister, who accompanied Mrs. Gandhi, announced that Hillaur will not only get a school but also a small hospital...
...Gandhi finished the day in nearby Rae Bareli, to which she helicoptered from Hillaur. There she told local citizens: "Our main concern should be the poor." Another main concern was the state of emergency that Mrs. Gandhi imposed on the country last June, as she said, because of "those who preached violence and indiscipline." Democracy, Indira noted loftily, "does not mean that whoever has power can sweep away the opposition like a bulldozer." It was a strange comment, coming from a ruler who for ten months has kept much of her own political opposition in jail...