India: Thunder on Left & Right

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On the eve of the 16th anniversary of Indian independence, 2,000 demonstrators marched outside Parliament in Delhi, waving banners and chanting: "Leave the throne, Jawaharlal." Inside the horseshoe-shaped chamber, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru faced the first no-confidence motion in his 16 years in power.

The censure motion was sponsored by Nehru's most outspoken political foe, stooped, acerbic J. B. Kripalani, a political independent who was returned to Parliament only two months ago in a surprising by-election victory, after having been swamped by now discredited ex-Defense Minister Krishna Menon in last year's general election. Kripalani proposed to censure the government among other things, over official cor ruption, spiraling food prices and prohibitively high taxation. Though Kripalani is pro-Western, the censure proposal became an umbrella for all kinds of other Nehru critics, including leftists angered by Nehru's few tentative steps away from nonalignment.

One major leftist target was India's agreement to permit Voice of America broadcasts for three hours daily over a transmitter to be built by the U.S. in Calcutta, and Nehru is now trying to back out of it. Another target: the joint air defense exercises that the Indian air force will soon hold with the U.S. and British air commands. In an effort to silence his leftist critics. Nehru has won extensive promises from Russia and its satellites for missiles, fighters, and small arms. Top government officials expect little in substance from Soviet aid promises, but insist that the symbolism of such aid is necessary to maintain India's image of nonalignment.

With Nehru's Congress Party holding a massive 229-seat plurality in Parliament, there is no chance that the censure motion will be carried. But Nehru is plainly worried over the rising opposition on both the right and the left and over the by-election trend away from the party in what were once considered impregnable Congress constituencies. He has promised to shake up his government and to demand the resignation of some Cabinet ministers so that they can work full time on organizational duties to revitalize the party. Nehru's plan is scorned by C. Rajagopalachari, 84, leader of India's small, dynamic, free-enterprising Swantantra Party. "Theatricals do not cure diseases," says C. R. "The Congress Party is sick, and I do not want sick persons in charge of the government."