Gandhi Opens in Washington

By John E. Yang

When Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi arrived in the U.S. last week for a five-day state visit, he found his way well prepared. Americans have been enchanted by The Jewel in the Crown on TV and A Passage to India at the movies. The enthusiasm bubbled even at the White House, where President Reagan declared "the year of India" at a state dinner in Gandhi's honor. The 74- year-old President also announced that he and the 40-year-old Prime Minister had closed their generation gap: "Although a few years separate us -- just a few -- we hit it off." Agreed Gandhi: "I think we did."

These were the first impressions the U.S. had hoped for. Like quarrelsome cousins, the world's most powerful democracy and the world's most populous democracy often manage to irritate each other. The U.S. has been a strong supporter of Pakistan, India's long-standing foe, while India, avowedly nonaligned, maintains close ties with the Soviet Union. The Reagan Administration hopes to woo India's new Prime Minister closer to the U.S. and farther from the Soviets.

+ Gandhi showed, however, that he can be frank as well as cordial. Meeting privately with Reagan, he objected to the U.S.'s supplying weapons to Pakistan under a $3.2 billion, six-year agreement signed in 1981. India has gone to war with Pakistan three times since 1947, and now fears that its Muslim neighbor is developing a nuclear weapon. The U.S. says it is providing Pakistan with weapons to protect its northwestern boundary from Soviet troops in Afghanistan. "We are not fully convinced of that," said Gandhi.

U.S. officials said they are willing to resume the sale of military technology and weaponry to India, if India agrees to keep them out of Soviet hands. But Indian officials are wary of what they consider the American tendency to cut off supplies of spare parts as political punishment, a problem they say they do not face with the Soviet Union.

Gandhi did appear to move closer to the U.S. position on Moscow's occupation of Afghanistan. He has maintained that the Soviets were invited into Afghanistan and has resisted U.S. pressure to intercede. In an address to a joint meeting of Congress the Prime Minister stated, "We stand for a political settlement in Afghanistan that ensures sovereignty, integrity, independence and nonaligned status." Although the forum was extraordinary, a State Department official noted that Gandhi has made similar statements on Afghanistan in recent months.

U.S. officials are convinced that the way to Gandhi's heart is through his affection for high tech. The Prime Minister told Congress that U.S. know-how could help reshape Indian industry, and he mentioned the agreement with Washington signed by India this spring not to allow the transfer of any technology it purchases from the U.S. to other countries -- a provision clearly aimed at the Soviet bloc. A Cambridge-trained mechanical engineer and former Indian Airlines pilot, Gandhi visited the National Academy of Sciences to meet with representatives of top U.S. high-tech firms. In Houston on Saturday, Vice President George Bush accompanied him on a tour of NASA's Johnson Space Center, and it was announced that an Indian astronaut will participate in a space shuttle mission next year.

Throughout Gandhi's tour, security was extraordinarily tight. The reason for concern: a possible assault on Gandhi by Sikh extremists; it was Sikh extremists who assassinated Rajiv's mother Indira last October. As it was, hundreds of Sikh demonstrators could be heard shouting protests during the welcoming ceremonies at the White House.

Gandhi also used his visit to feed the U.S. appetite for Indian culture, opening the 18-month Festival of India, a series of more than 200 performances and exhibitions in 80 American cities. Said the pleased Prime Minister: "I have no doubt that this visit will help to bring about greater understanding between our two countries."

With reporting by Ross H. Munro/Washington