INDIA: The Elephant Turns Frisky

Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi startled the world last month by relaxing the iron rule she had maintained under a state of emergency declared in mid-1975: she ended press censorship, freed political prisoners and scheduled parliamentary elections for next month. Whatever her political motives, her timing in one respect was sound. The Indian economy, described by a U.S. expert as "a great lumbering elephant," has turned so frisky that Mrs. Gandhi need have no fear of the economy becoming an issue in a free election. As she said in announcing the vote, "Anyone can see that today the nation is...

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