INDIA'S RU: S RULERS. SELECT A NEW LE LEADER.
By Kailas Chandra —
-Bombay —
Even before the. cremation of the. body of Lal Bahadur. Shastri, the late: prime minister. of. India who died at Tashkent January 11 after signing a "peace pact" with President. Ayub Khan of Pakistan under Soviet auspices, a dog fight. for succession to the prime ministership of the "biggest democracy in. Asia" had begun in New Delhi.
:There. were several candidates in the field. The ruling fac-. tions in the parliamentary Congress party, the majority party in the Indian parliament, would have liked Gulzarilal Nanda -- who was sworn in as acting prime minister immediately after Shastri's death -- to continue as the "status quo" prime minister until the next general elections in 1967. He. was, -however,. challenged by Gujarat's "strong man," Morarji Desai, a former finance minister in the Nehru cabinet, considered to be a 'puritanist" (because of his strong views on prohibition) and "more. open" exponent of the capitalist interests of the country.
The Congress president, Kamaraj, a ‘shrewd though less sophisticated politician from the South (Tamilnad) dnd the coterie of — party bosses around him, including Railway Minister S.K.Patil from Bombay city, Defence. Minister Chavan of Maharashtra, Sanjiva Reddy of Andhra and the West Bengal.Congress boss, Atulya Ghosh thought, it would be too risky to have-a. "controversial" figure . like. Morar ji. Desai in ‘office in the present ''delicate" situation (with a major — economic crisis threatening and with famine conditions in some . states) facing the country. They were. in search of a candidate who | would be acceptable to big business while at the same time having a
"popular image" inside the country -- and also a candidate who would be "acceptable" to both Washington and Moscow!
' Several alternatives were tried. There was a great deal of horse trading. Patil was found unsuitable because of his image as an open "Washington patriot" in India. Chavan, the "hero" of the Indo-Pakistan War, was considered to be a "pegional chauvinist" in Maharashtra's border disputes with neighboring states in the South. The Birla group of industrialists, the real power behind the Congress party, also entered the search for a new leader. Finally they hit upon Indira Gandhi , daughter of the late Jawaharlal Nehru.
_ She was considered to be the least controversial figure. among the available party leaders, and probably the best vote catcher for the Congress in the next elections. Besides being relatively young (49), she is a woman, an attraction for the youth and the women. So all the warring factions in the Congress "High Command" combined to choose her as their leader. Once this was decided, a powerful campaign was mounted in her favor by the big business press even before the parliamentary Congress party met formally to elect a new leader. On January 19 the party chose Mrs. Gandhi as its leader by 355 votes to 169. If there was any surprise at the outcome it was over the size of the opposition.
The new cabinet announced by Mrs. Gandhi consists of the old team almost in its entirety. The only new face is that of Asoka Mehta, a former "Praja Socialist" now deputy chairman of the Planning Commission. Jagjivan Ram, the "Harijan" leader from Bihar who was a minister in the Nehru cabinet until hé resigned in 196% along with Morarji Desai ‘under the so-called "Kamaraj Plan," has been brought back as "Number 3" in the cabinet in charge of Labour. At. the last moment, obviously for a price, he switched his support from Desai to Mrs. Gandhi. Home Minister Nanda*continues as "Number 2" in the cabinet and leader of the Lok Sabha (lower chamber of parliament) since. Mrs. Gandhi is only a member of the Rajya Sabha. (upper chamber).
Finance Minister Sachin Choudhari from ‘Bengal, “supposed to be a trusted spokesman of the "Marwari" business’ ‘interests of Calcutta, ‘also-continues in the new government. He was brought in earlier by Shastri himself to replace T.7-Khrishnamacari, who had to resign.in December 1965 following serious allegations of corruption made against him by members of parliament. Mrs. Gandhi has — tried to satisfy all factions that backed her in the leadership. _contest. She sacked two former ministers -- A.K.Sen, in charge of Law, and. Humayun Kabir; in charge of Scientific Research -- at the behest of the West Bengal Congress chief, Atulya Ghosh.
There are no indications whatsoever to suggest that Mrs: Gandhi is contemplating any major changes in the policies pursued by the Shastri team. The old wine continues in a new bottle. And the reason why the big bourgeoisie of India backed Mrs. Gandhi is quite obvious. The need cf the hour is to maintain the status quo. Naturally the stock markets showed no perturbations as the new: team was sworn in.
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fu Rumors have circulated that the new government might .release leaders of the various left political parties, including the left-— wing Communist party, detained under the so-called Defence of India Rules (DIR) since the border conflict with China. Another rumor. is. that Mrs. Gandhi might initiate negotiations with Peking over the Sino-Indian border disputes. The initial steps for the withdrawal -of Indian and Pakistan troops to positions held by then before . __ August ‘5, 1965, when the Indo-Pak conflict began, have been taken, . “This has naturally reduced tension in the subcontinent. But it does ‘“not seem likely that Mrs. Gandhi would release the left-wing: political prisoners, especially with new hunger demonstrations flaring:in Kerala and other states. In fact, following the successful statewide general strike in Kerala on January 28 to protest the government's food policy (cutting down the rice ration from 200 grams to 120 | grams a day), new arrests have been made, including the arrest of. the Left-wing Communist party leader E.M.S.Namboodiripad and.:the Revolutionary Socialist party leader Srikanten Nair. These marked the beginning of a new wave of government repression. The real character of the "Indira Cabinet" is being exposed in the face of a new Mass upsurge.
Among the left parties in India, only the pro-Moscow Communist party has reacted enthusiastically to the election of Mrs. Gandhi as prime minister. Bhupash Gupta, the "centrist" leader of this party, who was recently named editor of:New Age, the party's Eng- ~ lish-language weekly, wrote on,January..243:. "It (Mrs. Gandhi's election) is a defeat of yet. another bid by the rightists and reactionaries to install as the country's Prime Minister one who is all but alien to any progressive ideas and whose solicitude for big business and reaction is well-tested and beyond all doubt. Naturally the nation has every reason to congratulate itself that this knighterrant of reaction has not been allowed to disgrace and defile the highest office in the Government of the country."
It is understandable why the pro-Moscow Communist party ~~ leaders are so concerned about putting the "right" person in the "highest office" of the Indian bourgeois state. Mrs. Gandhi was more acceptable to the Soviet bureaucracy than perhaps Desai but she is equally acceptable to President Johnson, who has invited her to Washington on a state visit. Soviet Premier Kosygin and U.S. Vice- President Humphrey, who went to New Delhi to attend Shastri's funeral, stayed there for a while to indicate their "preferences" in the leadership contest.
"Against Morarji Desai," says the editor of the New Age, "India would not have won the day but for the healthy forces within the . muse Congress Party and the vigilance of the whole nation." (New Age, January 23.) But he has tried to explain in the same article why "many other Congressmen who are by no means progressive" ("progressive" in the neo-Stalinist sense no doubt ) supported Mrs. Gandhi. According to Bhupesh Gupta, the "impact of the good: national sentiments and of progressive forces that are within the Congress" could not be ignored by the "reactionaries." "Under this impact," says he, "the traditionally right camp" split over the issue of the
election and "even the rightists among the party managers knew that it- would be too risky to venture to put aS Morarji Desai as Prime | Minister....And 1967 is not too far when the ruling party would have to face the Slectorate. " (Emphasis added. -
With all his enthusiasm for Mrs: Gandhi as an associate an. his student days in London and with all his neo-Stalinist: sophistry, even Bhupash Gupta carinot conceal the alignment of class forces behind the new prime minister. For he admits that "evidently the right- ‘ists also bank on the possibilities of holding Indira Gandhi on tight reins: and using her ‘Public image ' ‘to serve. their ends."
Developments ‘since the Indira team took over have shown. that the rightists in the Congress were shrewder and saw more clearly than the pro-Moscow ‘Communist party leaders how their interests would be served by. a figure iike Mrs. Gandhi . : come
Bhupesh Gupta has- expressed the hope that Indira Gandhi will carry the government along more "progressive" lines than those pursued by Shastri. He has also expressed the hope that she will restore civil liberties by releasing political prisoners; and that she will initiate steps to open negotiations with. China.
- But the new prime minister will disappoint ‘her supporters in the right-wing Communist party. No "leftist. deviation" is visible in her policies. They are the same as those laid down by her father and later carried on by Shastri under different conditions. As a leader: selected by the Indian bourgeoisie she cannot do otherwise.
- soUNEDTENNE REGIME SPILL USING TORTURE
The families of fifty-nine political prisoners held by the Boumedienne regime at El Harrach on charges of "associating with criminals"; i.e., the underground ORP (Organisation de Resistance Populaire organized by Hocine Zahouane) . sent out a letter to the ~ press reporting that conditions have worsened for the defendants Since January . 16.
"The minister of justice, despite our efforts and the verbal assurances given to the families.and the defense attorneys to recognize the defendants in El Harrach as political prisoners, has decided to consider them common criminals and to reduce visits to once:in two weeks ," the letter declares.
‘The special ‘correspondent of the Paris ‘apily Le. Monde who reports this in. the. issue of January 28 adds:
"It is certain-:that most of the detainees, like’ thos se jailea in the Lambeze penitentiary, were tortured before being brought before the examining magistrate.’ All the. defense attorneys confirm this. ;
"But it also appears that these methods were utilized without
‘the knowledge’ of: the authorities. As soon as the latter learned about it -- the detainees. themselves confirm it -- these practices ceased. Today, despite the fresh administrative interference, the El Harrach detainees are, even in the opinion of their attorneys , rather well treated. ix:
Several ‘things are ‘to be noted about the report by the Le Monde correspondent. He seems to be anxious to write in such a way as to placate Boumedienne's censorship, which customarily bans — issues of any journal that contains news reflecting unfavorably on . the Colonel's regime. The assurances about how well the prisoners’ are being treated is quite noticeably not confirmed by any statements from the "detainees" themselves. -
Finally the claim of the authorities that they aidn' t know about torture being used is an 01d dodge. When the first cases of © torture were reported by the victims after getting out of Algeria (these included several French technicians of Trotskyist outlook with long records of struggle in defense of the Algerian Revolution), the first response of Boumedienne's officials was to- flatly deny the exposure. When it became impossible to continue this course in face of the evidence, they shifted to the story about not. Knowing about it.
“The first. victims of torture in Algeria under Boumedienne _ testified otherwise, however, and stated their willingness to appear before ‘any impartial body to present the facts. The challenge. was. never accepted by the regime.
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