INDIA THE CASE OF NEHRU'S DOG IN INDIA, CRIED A SOCIALIST POLITICIAN 
LAST WEEK, 270 MILLION PEOPLE EXIST ON 4 #$ A DAY, 
WHILE IT TAKES 63 #$ DAILY TO FEED JAWAHARLAL NEHRU'S DOG 
. NOT SO, RETORTED NEHRU : DAILY SUBSISTENCE FOR 70 PER 
CENT OF THE POPULATION IS ALL OF 20 #$ . (HE 
DID NOT DENY HIS CANINE FOOD COSTS.) THE ACCUSATION, AND THE 
PRIME MINISTER'S REPLY, WERE FAIR SAMPLES OF THE ACRIMONIOUS PERSONAL ATTACK 
ON NEHRU LAST WEEK DURING THE FIRST CENSURE MOTION AGAINST THE 
GOVERNMENT IN INDIA'S 16 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE . WITH A 229-SEAT 
PLURALITY, NEHRU'S CONGRESS PARTY WAS IN NO DANGER . NEVERTHELESS, THE 
DEBATE, WHICH FOLLOWED THREE SHATTERING BY-ELECTION DEFEATS FOR THE GOVERNMENT, VENTED 
INDIANS' WIDE AND RISING DISSATISFACTION WITH THE CONGRESS PARTY POLICIES THAT 
LED TO THE NATION'S HUMILIATING DEFEATS BY THE CHINESE LAST OCTOBER 
. THE ATTACK ON THE GOVERNMENT WAS LED BY J . 
B . KRIPALANI, LONGTIME FRIEND OF NEHRU AND ONETIME PRESIDENT OF 
HIS CONGRESS PARTY, WHO WAS ELECTED TO PARLIAMENT RECENTLY AS AN 
INDEPENDENT . WHOLE SKINS . " THIS GOVERNMENT HAS FAILED IN 
ITS DOMESTIC POLICY, " DECLARED KRIPALANI . IT " HAS FAILED 
IN ITS FOREIGN POLICY, AND IT HAS FAILED IN ITS ECONOMIC 
POLICY . THE PEOPLE FEEL DEPRESSED AND FRUSTRATED, AND BELIEVE THE 
COUNTRY HAS SLID BACK DURING THE PAST 15 YEARS . " 
THE GOVERNMENT'S LONGTIME POLICY OF " NONALIGNMENT, " KRIPALANI ARGUED, NO 
LONGER FITS " NATIONAL NEEDS . " SAID HE : " 
YOU CANNOT COEXIST WITH SOMEONE WHO DOES NOT BELIEVE IN COEXISTENCE 
. WE ARE AT WAR WITH CHINA . " THE GOVERNMENT'S 
CASE WAS NOT NOTABLY HELPED BY KRISHNA MENON, WHO, IN HIS 
FIRST MAJOR SPEECH IN PARLIAMENT SINCE HE WAS SACKED AS DEFENSE 
MINISTER LAST WINTER, MADE THE CURIOUSLY UNGUARDED ADMISSION THAT THE GOVERNMENT'S 
NONALIGNMENT POLICY WAS BASED, NOT ON PRINCIPLE, BUT MERELY ON " 
OUR DESIRE TO KEEP OUR SKINS WHOLE AND ENTIRE . " 
THE COMMUNISTS, WHO REFUSED TO ASSOCIATE THEMSELVES WITH THE NO-CONFIDENCE MOTION 
BUT MADE THE MOST OF IT ANYWAY, BITTERLY CONDEMNED THE AIRTRAINING 
EXERCISES THAT ARE TO BE HELD JOINTLY WITH THE U.S . 
AND BRITAIN IN INDIA, PROBABLY IN NOVEMBER . THE COMMUNISTS ASO 
BAITED FOOD MINISTER S . K . PATIL FOR HIS " 
ANNUAL PILGRIMAGE TO AMERICA TO BEG FOR MORE FOOD . " 
RETORTED PATIL : " MOSCOW IS A DELIGHTFUL CITY . I 
WISH I COULD GO THERE ALL THE TIME . BUT THERE 
ARE NO SURPLUSES OF FOOD IN RUSSIA . " DEPARTING MINISTERS 
. NEHRU'S REBUTTAL WAS A RAMBLING, SCHOOLMASTERLY HOMILY ON INDIA'S " 
VISION OF THE FUTURE " AND THE NEED FOR HARD WORK 
; WHILE HE SPOKE, AT LEAST TWO MEMBERS OF HIS PARTY 
SLUMBERED IN THEIR SEATS . THE CENSURE MOTION WAS DEFEATED 346-61, 
WITH THE COMMUNISTS ABSTAINING . THE HEAT OF THE ATTACK ON 
THE ONCE-SACROSANCT NEHRU DISMAYED MANY CONGRESS PARTY OFFICIALS, AND LED TO 
THE RESIGNATION OF SIX CABINET MINISTERS, WHO ANNOUNCED THAT THEY WOULD 
CONCENTRATE ON REJUVENATING THE PARTY . THE DEPARTING MINISTERS WERE THE 
STRONGEST MEN ON NEHRU'S TEAM, ALTHOUGH SOME WERE IN POLITICAL TROUBLE 
. AMONG THEM WERE TWO STRONG PRO-WESTERNERS, FOOD MINISTER PATIL AND 
FINANCE MINISTER MORARJI DESAI, WIDELY CRITICIZED FOR FOOD SHORTAGES AND HIGH 
PRICES, AS WELL AS HOME MINISTER LAL BAHADUR SHASTRI, NEHRU'S LIKELIEST 
SUCCESSOR . NEHRU'S DAUGHTER, INDIRA GANDHI, WHO IS HERSELF A POTENTIAL 
CANDIDATE TO SUCCEED NEHRU, INSISTED THAT INDIA'S MOOD OF UNREST IS 
A SIGN OF " PROGRESS . " IMPATIENTLY TAPPING A PINK-TOED, 
SANDALED FOOT, MRS . GANDHI EXPLAINED : " WHEN YOUR CHILDREN 
REACH THEIR TEENS, THEY SUDDENLY FEEL THEIR PARENTS ARE ALL WRONG 
. INDIA IS IN THAT STAGE NOW, FOR IT'S JUST 16 
YEARS OLD . EVERYBODY GRUMBLES ABOUT TAXES . BUT YOU CAN 
SEE THE NUMBER OF SHOPS INCREASING, MORE PEOPLE GOING TO THE 
CINEMA, MORE PEOPLE GOING ON HOLIDAYS . WHY, THE MOUNTAIN RESORTS 
ARE SO CHOCK-FULL THAT YOU CAN'T FIND A BED ANYWHERE ! 
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