Word: indira
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...sure, Egypt threw out the Russians in 1972 and established close ties with Washington. India, in a stunning demonstration of the democratic process two years ago, defeated Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, thereby bringing an end to both her authoritarian rule and her Soviet-leaning foreign policy. The Russians lost their special relationship with Somalia, as well as their excellent port at Berbera, because they got too greedy and tried at the same time to reach an accommodation with Somalia's neighbor and ancient enemy, Ethiopia...
...pure soap opera, and India's most accomplished tearjerker was relishing her leading role. After Indira Gandhi's colleagues in the 542-member lower house of the Indian Parliament wound up a rancorous two-week debate by voting overwhelmingly to expel her and send her to jail for contempt, the graying former Prime Minister, 61, declared that "I would rather be arrested here and now and not in the dead of night at my house." Then she clambered onto a table and waited for the police. Before they led Mrs. Gandhi off to Delhi's Tihar jail...
Gandhi was clearly looking forward to her brief confinement, which is due to end when the legislature recesses, possibly this week. Before she checked into prison, the National Herald, mouthpiece of her Congress-Indira Party (Congress I), published a special edition whose black-bordered front page carried a faked photograph of her smiling beatifically from behind bars. Thousands of pro-Indira protesters poured into the streets of Indian cities setting fire to buses and buildings and hanging Prime Minister Morarji Desai in effigy; at least 15 people died and Gandhi's followers claimed that 32,000 demonstrators were arrested...
...herself in martyr's robes. But Janata hardliners, stung by Gandhi's barb that the proceedings were "like a medieval star chamber," balked at Desai's plan of suspending her from Parliament until she publicly apologized for the 1975 offense. Snapped Janata Member Kanwar Lal Gupta: "Indira-ji has put 150,000 people in jail. Can't she spend three days there herself?" The vote to condemn...
Hovering behind the scenes in the intraparty quarrel was the formidable figure of Home Minister Charan Singh, 75, whose ambition to succeed Desai as Prime Minister is surpassed only by his abiding hatred for Indira Gandhi. Though temporarily incapacitated by a heart attack, Singh warned that Desai's action against Narain had "sounded the death knell of the Janata Party." At the same time, he launched his own indirect offensive against Desai by calling for Mrs. Gandhi's immediate arrest. Scorning Desai's view that she had been punished enough by her defeat at the polls last...