INDIA: A Constitutional Crisis

Indira Gandhi bids for a comeback

Across the Indian subcontinent, the people whom Mohandas Gandhi once lovingly called harijans (children of God) began to find their voices. The 85 million harijans, or Untouchables, who are the lowest in the rigid Hindu caste system, had thought for a brief moment last week that durable Jagjivan Ram, 71, the widely acknowledged leader of India's politically potent harijans, was soon to be Prime Minister. It was not to be. Their hopes were dashed by a bitter impasse in India's parliamentary system that culminated in an unprecedented...