Word: gandhis
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...over evil. As always, the climax of the ritual was the burning of effigies of the demon-king Ravana and his kinsmen Meghnad and Kumbhakarna. But this year's ceremonies were a bit different than usual. The fireworks display at Delhi's parade ground saluted Prime Minister Gandhi's 20-point social and economic program, which was inaugurated after the emergency was declared last June 26. At Dussehra ceremonies elsewhere in the country, effigies of black marketeers, hoarders and smugglers were burned along with Ravana...
...Gandhi herself spent a five-day working holiday in Kashmir, talking politics with Sheik Abdullah, chief minister of the state, and visiting Indian troops in the border areas opposite China and Pakistan. Government officials, who had been stung by previous criticism from Washington, were clearly pleased by Foreign Minister Y.B. Chavan's talks with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and President Ford's remark. "We will welcome him here," said Mrs. Gandhi, "and he can see for himself...
Despite New Delhi's undeniable lurch toward totalitarian rule and its suspension of certain civil liberties, India remains, strictly speaking, a democracy. Mrs. Gandhi's harsh effort to suppress political opposition shocked observers outside India, but she did act within the bounds of India's rather pliable constitution. Even though some 30 opposition members are in jail or under house arrest, Parliament continues to function. Moreover, an unfettered Supreme Court is currently hearing arguments on Mrs. Gandhi's conviction in June for illegal campaign practices, as well as on a constitutional amendment abrogating the charges...
...have become dull and predictable, and people seem reticent about discussing controversial matters in public. From the beginning of the emergency, much of the government's anger has been directed at the press. The other day, in discussing the BBC (which has withdrawn its correspondent from India), Mrs. Gandhi told an interviewer, "They seem to think that anything is fair if it's anti-Indian." Both the domestic and foreign press are still subject to stringent controls. Three weeks ago, the government abruptly expelled Jacques Leslie of the Los Angeles Times, for allegedly violating the censorship guidelines, thereby...
...million people, who are more concerned about the fact that the government has completely halted inflation (down from 31% in September 1974) and that India's three-year-old drought has ended (experts now project a bumper grain crop this fall). Indians will long debate whether Mrs. Gandhi was justified in proclaiming the emergency, but the Prime Minister has won widespread support for seizing a rare opportunity to ram through a score of social reforms...