Word: indianized
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Last week Jayaprakash Narayan, a long time force in Indian politics, addressed a rally of 200,000 supporters at a fairground outside New Delhi. Speaking from a reclining position because of an illness contracted during his recent stay in prison, the frail 74-year-old statesman worked the crowd into a chaotic frenzy with his low-key call for the defeat of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in next month's parliamentary elections. As he spoke quietly but passionately about the brutal repression and loss of political freedom under Gandhi's rule, Narayan was frequently interrupted with wild cries of "Long...
...reaction to Narayan's speech must have sent some nervous shivers down the spine of Gandhi, her son Sanjay, and her other chief political advisers. Nineteen months earlier a similar speech by J.P. had spurred the Prime Minister to declare "emergency rule," muzzling the Indian press and placing her most dangerous political opponents under arrest. At that time, Gandhi faced indictment for violation of election laws during the 1973 Parliamentary elections. Confronting a dilemma similar to the one which former President Nixon faced in August of 1974, Gandhi took steps that would have seemed inconceivable in the United States...
...censored the nation's newspapers, and, in some cases, forced them to cease printing; foreign news reports were watched closely and news correspondents found themselves ... writing unfavorably about the political scene. Information about the current political situation grew scarce as foreign academics were denied entrance visas to study contemporary Indian problems. Gandhi jailed most of her political opponents, among them former Deputy Prime Minister Morarj Desai, socialist leader George Fernandes, and dissident L.K. Advani...
Under authoritarian rule, Gandhi has restored order to the Indian political scene and, more importantly for her own political future, taken great strides in improving the ailing Indian economy. With the fortuitous assistance of favorable weather patterns during the last growing season, India enjoyed the best grain harvest in its history last year. Farmers managed to amass a reserve supply of 17 million tons of grain--hefty insurance against future famines that will continue to afflict India whenever the monsoons fail again...
...whole, the Indian economy is performing better than most Western economies these days. Gandhi has brought inflation down two per cent, one of the lowest rates in the world, and Indian exports have climbed steadily for the past year and a half, producing $3 billion in foreign reserves as a result of the favorable balance of payments. In addition, after years of black market profiteering, the market has begun to function more smoothly in India, and many items once unobtainable for most people have become commonly available at affordable prices...