Troubled Times for Indira

Communal clashes and a staggering economy plague her regime

"Prime Minister [Indira] Gandhi has failed to solve or even to offer effective solutions to India's major domestic problems." The Indian leader appears to have "run out of political steam," and displays "elements of paranoia and cynicism" in "seeking to blame internal problems on external interference." Her ten-month-old government has been categorized by "erratic" performance, "pedestrian and superficial" style, and "dismaying indecisiveness and ineffectiveness."

Strong words indeed, especially coming from a diplomat. Those harsh comments on Mrs. Gandhi and her government are from a confidential report by Gordon Upton, Australia's High Commissioner (in effect, Ambassador) in New Delhi, to his Foreign Ministry. Upton's report was leaked to a Canberra journalist and was published by the Melbourne Age, Australia's leading newspaper. The Australian government was deeply embarrassed by the disclosure, which threatened to strain relationships with New Delhi. But the Indian government has so far ignored the incident.

As it happens, the High Commissioner's remarks contain large elements of truth. Problems that have plagued Mrs. Gandhi's government since her return to office last January continue to elude solution. One of them is communal tension that has led to a series of bloody battles between Hindus and Muslims. In Moradabad, 95 miles east of New Delhi, 133 people have been killed in these clashes since August.

In India's northeastern state of Assam, there has been a year of student-ledagitation against "foreigners" in their midst, including Indians from the state of West Bengal as well as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The ongoing strife has paralyzed the state's oil industry, which supplies 12% of India's needs The student protest in Assam has been restrained by comparison with a savage outbreak of hatred against Bengalis in the neighboring state of Tripura; last June native tribespeople massacred more than 1,000 Bengali settlers.

Meanwhile, India's economy is hamstrung by an ever increasing oil import bill, which consumes 60% of the country's export income. India depended on Iraq and Iran for roughly two-thirds of its oil imports; with those supplies restricted by the Persian Gulf war, and domestic production cut by the disruptions in Assam, New Delhi has had to scramble for new sources of oil, including the spot market. Although monetary restrictions and liberalized imports have reduced India's inflation rate from 22% in January to 15% today, such commodities as sugar (52-c- a lb.), and lentils (45-c- to 50-c- a lb.), have soared out of the reach of many people. Fully 40% of the population remains under the poverty line which the government defines as $8 a month income.

Only in the past month or two, reports TIME New Delhi Bureau Chief Marcia Gauger, does the Prime Minister appear to have regained her old dynamism and come fully alive to these problems. For the first five months after her election, she was preoccupied with consolidating the power of her Congress Party (I) (standing for Indira), calling for elections in nine states and defeating the opposition in all but one. Five of India's 22 states remain in opposition hands; Assam is ruled directly by New Delhi because the state was unable to form a government.

Then in June came the death of her younger son Sanjay in a plane crash; through much of the summer Mrs. Gandhi appeared absorbed by grief. Rumors persisted that she was ill, that she had lost her will to govern. This month, however, Indira Gandhi was on the move, doing what she does best: taking her case to the people. In a series of appearances in Jammu and Kashmir, one of the states with a non-Congress government, she smoothed over differences with Sheik Abdullah, the aging Lion of Kashmir, and blamed communal tensions on hard-line Muslim and Hindu factions. To demonstrate her government's concern over the strife, Mrs. Gandhi last week reconvened the National Integration Council, a non-sectarian group that includes leaders with different religious and political affiliations.

Mrs. Gandhi also flew to the southern state of Kerala, where she attributed the current problems to her predecessors. "We have communal riots, high prices, unemployment left over from the wrong policies of the Janata and Lok Dal governments," she told listeners, who bedecked her with flower garlands. "We cannot allow antisocial elements, smugglers, hoarders, profiteers to gain the upper hand as happened under Janata."

Citing those "antisocial elements," as well as "communal disharmony, caste conflicts, atrocities against minorities" and other activities that "pose a grave threat to the lawful order," her government two months ago proclaimed a tough new national security law. The ordinance permits the preventive detention, for ten days without charge and for up to a year without trial, of anyone considered to be a threat to public security.

The new law provides more safe guards than the dreaded internal security act of Mrs. Gandhi's 1975-77 emergency rule; for example, detained persons must be given a quick hearing before a three-person panel. When Parliament reconvenes this week, Mrs. Gandhi will seek its formal approval of the law, which was imposed by executive fiat. During what is expected to be a bitter debate, opposition members will warn that, once again, Mrs. Gandhi is taking her country down the road to authoritarianism.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.