INDIRA GANDHI NEHRU’S DAUGHTER MAY BE INDIA’S FOREIGN MINISTER

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30447, 22 May 1964, Page 12

INDIRA GANDHI NEHRU’S DAUGHTER MAY BE INDIA’S FOREIGN MINISTER

[By SIMON KAVANAUGH) The -woman tipped to become Foreign Minister of the world’s biggest democracy has never held a government oflice, but is f.n more skilled in international diplomacy than any of her countrymen.

She is Indira Gandhi, only child of India’s ailing Prime Minister. Jawaharlal Nehru. For the last 18 years she has been her fathers hostess and India’s unofficial anibassadoress-at-large.

As her father’s only confidante, Indira’s experience has stretched over the whole range of government and since Nehru’s heart attack earlier this year she has acted as his spokesman. Some people feel that Nehru is grooming his daughter as his successor although he has repeatedly denied that he intends founding a dynasty. “In democracies people do not nominate successors. India is not a monarchy,” he has said. Dolls Given Lectures

But Indira is a formidable statesman in her own right. Politics have dominated her life. When she was four years old, instead of dressing her dolls she gave them political lectures. Before she was 12, when other girls- were being domesticated, she banded together 6000 children to work for the Congress Party. Her youthful brigade, known as the Monkey Corps, picketed shops, distributed leaflets, publicised illegal political meetings, and generally became the despair of the British authorities.

Home life was disrupted by gaol ever since she can remember. Visitors calling at Nehru’s house in Allahabad would frequently be informed by young Indira: “I’m sorry but Papa and Mama and Grandpapa are all in prison.” 111-health dogged her youth. In Switzerland, aged 18, she watched her mother die of tuberculosis and after only one year at Oxford University reading history, she herself had to enter a Swiss sanatorium.

During the time she spent in England, Indira became a member of the British Socialist Party and impressed the late Ernest Bevin with her left-wing thinking. She also impressed a young lawyer, Feroze Gandhi (no relation to the Mahatma), who was studying at the London School of Economics. In spite of religious differences Feroze Gandhi was a Parsee while she was a high cast Hindu — she married Gandhi in 1942. It was equivalent to a Roman Catholic marrying a Jew.

Jailed For Subversion

After a brief honeymoon in Kashmir they were jailed by the British for 13 months on charges of subversion. Indira spent her time teaching illiterate convicts. The Gandhis had two sons—both now studying at Cambridge University. But after five years of marriage Indira returned to her father’s home in New Delhi. Feroze Gandhi, who became a member of Parliament, died in 1960. Nehru had become Prime Minister of India in 1946 and

his daughter devoted her life to soothing her father's weary and often irritable brow, and to her children. Soon she became known throughout the world as an excellent hostess —but at the same time through her work with the Untouchables became a familiar figure in thousands of poor homes. A parliamentary seat was hers for the asking. But though she is ambitious for her country, she does not seek self-power. However, within the ruling Congress Party she has made her mark. She started her political climb as chairman of the women’s section, a member of the central election board and the youth advisory council. Indira, an ardent socialist, has always been left of Government policy. In 1955 she was awarded a seat on the Working Committee (the inner high command of the party) and soon afterwards had enough influence to have some of the older members sacked and replaced by younger, more go-ahead politicians. Emphasising that development and standard of living must be improved, she said: “The nation is in a hurry and we can't afford to lose time.” Party President When in 1959 no-one wanted to take on the difficult job of party president, Indira took over for a year, to become the third member of her family to hold that allimportant post. It was one of the world’s toughest political assignments for her party in power for 11 years, was complacent in the face of a dangerous Communist challenge.

She spent months touring the provinces getting to know local Congress leaders and boosting morale. To combat Communist propaganda she trained teams of young field workers to preach the Congress doctrine of socialism to the masses. The Communists were in control of Kerala State and fearing their foothold was too strong to combat

with national elections coming up, it was at Indira's insistence that the Government voted to dissolve the legally. elected Kerala government But though she is ruthlessly anti-Communist at home she will defend Russia internationally. When the Dalai Lama fled Tibet she outspokenly condemned the Chinese while her father remained silent. She had every reason to fear Red China as the 1962 border invasions proved. Five days before the first attacks, Nehru sent his daughter to America to organise armament shipments and it was practical Indira who launched the campaign among Indian women to part with their jewellery to foot the bill for the .much needed tanks and guns. Tour Of Africa Last year Indira headed the Indian delegation to Kenya's Independence celebrations. Instead of returning home directly, she took time off to make a goodwill tour of other African States, which in her opinion were coming under too much Chinese influence. In her father’s name she invited these leaders to India. Indira is now 46 years old. There were rumours that she was considering marriage with Krishna Menon, the now discredited ex-Minister of Defence with whom she still maintains a close personal friendship. Congressmen fear her friendship with Menon, who may try to use her to stage a political return, and have found another successor to her father in Lal Bahadur Shastri who, universally liked and respected, is a moderate. However, Shastri's knowledge of foreign affairs is limited to one visit to Nepal. If Nehru, now 74 years old and not physically fit to travel, should make his daughter Foreign Minister, it would be a wise and popular appointment. Indira Gandhi has the passion and political acumen to match a proud lineage and a revered name.