In New Delhi, newspapers wrote of the "ill winds" battering the Prime Minister. To the east, in the city of Patna, an angry crowd interrupted one of her speeches, chanting, "Indira Gandhi, go back!" At the southern tip of the subcontinent, near the coastal city of Trivandrum, the signs posted on palm trees cried out: END DICTATORSHIP, DETHRONE THE QUEEN!
Mrs. Gandhi's campaign for the re-election of her government was running into trouble—heavy trouble. The four-day national ballot is scheduled to begin this Wednesday. Privately, some New Delhi pundits were betting that...