MAKING PEACE

PICTURE SPEAK

THE WORLD IS HER STAGE: Indira Gandhi addressing the UN silver jubilee celebrations in 1970

“In 1970, the United Nations will complete 25 years. Can we make it a year of peace?” asked Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in her address in New York. There was no peace in sight in the neighbourhood, though, with Pakistan President Ayub Khan rejecting India’s offer of a ‘no-war pact’. On the domestic front, too, the situation was grim. Over 1,300 died in the floods of north Bengal and there was scarcity in Rajasthan, while violence followed the arrest of Naxalite leader Kanu Sanyal as Communists in Kerala turned violent, attacking police stations and staging protests.

TAMIL PRIDE
C.N. Annadurai

Two decades of unrivalled Congress rule in Tamil Nadu came to an end in the 1967 elections, which also saw the rise of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam under playwright-politician Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai. The Congress suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the regional party, which won 138 of the 234 seats in the state Assembly. The Congress is still to regain power in the state. Under Anna, as he was called by his followers, the Dravidian nationalists in the party took up cudgels against the imposition of Hindi as the national language. A witty orator and a prolific writer, his tenure as chief minister was cut short when he died in 1969. Anna was succeeded by his protege and writer Muthuvel Karunanidhi.

FIRST CUT

Asia’s first ever heart transplant operation was performed by Dr Prafulla Kumar Sen and other surgeons at KEM Hospital, Bombay. He was only the third surgeon in the world to achieve this feat.

India’s first meteorological rocket, Menaka, was successfully launched at the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station in Kerala.

DID YOU KNOW

The mehendi ceremony in Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi’s wedding was conducted at the Bachchans’ Willingdon Crescent home. The couple got married on February 28.

THE GENE SCENE

Raipur-born molecular biologist Hargobind Khurana (right) became the third Indian to win the Nobel Prize. Awarded for his work on the interpretation of the genetic code, he hoped his work would “serve as a basis for further work in molecular and developmental biology”.

“BHOLA, NEECHE SE”

Says Kishore Kumar, playing music guru to tone-deaf Bhola, played by the inimitable Sunil Dutt, asking him to sing on a lower scale. Bhola, true to his name, takes it quite literally, and slips down to the floor. Slapstick comedy met R.D. Burman’s musical genius in Padosan, a story of a simpleton who wanted to woo his musically-inclined neighbour (Saira Banu). Mehmood’s politically incorrect comedy, complete with the southern dhoti and accent, won him many fans.

“WE GAVE YOU EVERYTHING WE OWNED JUST TO SIT AT YOUR TABLE.”

The Beatles travelled to India in February 1968 for ‘transcendental meditation studies’ at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram in Rishikesh. “We gave you everything we owned just to sit at your table/ Just a smile would lighten everything,” they wrote later. Many of the Liverpool band’s songs and albums, including White Album, Abbey Road, Dear Prudence and Sexy Sadie were inspired by their stay here.

ELSEWHERE...

Mauritius attained independence from Britain.

American civil rights leader Martin Luther King was assassinated by James Earl Ray in Memphis, Tennessee. His death—caused a bullet wound in the neck—gave rise to riots.

Robert F. Kennedy died a day after he was shot by Sirhan Bishara Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

France (below) became the world’s fifth thermo-nuclear power as it tested the H-bomb.

1969: INDIA AT 60

SPLIT WIDE OPEN

PICTURE SPEAK

THE NEW ORDER: Indira with V.V. Giri; Zakir Hussain (below)

REWIND

India’s grand old party, the Congress, faced its first major split as the old guard led by party President, S. Nijalingappa expelled Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from the party for “fostering a cult of personality”. The “Syndicate”, as the senior members were called, could not quite come to terms with the fact that the “gungi gudiya” (dumb doll)—their snide reference for Indira—had a mind of her own. The break was complete when Indira after proposing N. Sanjeeva Reddy’s name for presidentship asked Congressmen to “vote according to their conscience”. V.V. Giri, the rebel Congress candidate won.

Death of a President

When the communal temperature was at its peak in India, the country had a Muslim president and a Muslim chief justice of the Supreme Court. After serving as vice-president to the great Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan for five years, Zakir Hussain, an academic and former vice-chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University, became the philosopher scholar’s successor at Rashtrapathi Bhavan in 1967. Hussain however had one of the briefest terms as the country’s president as he died less than two years later. He was also the first Indian president to die in office.

FIRST CUT

The first superfast train, Rajdhani Express, was introduced between New Delhi and Howrah, with an average speed of 130 kmph.

India’s first atomic power station at Tarapore became operational.

The state of Madras was renamed Tamil Nadu.

1,516 sq km was the area covered by the Gir Forest Reserve of Gujarat, established in 1969. It was set up to protect lions in India, whose numbers had dwindled.

“HE HAS RECTITUDE, ABILITY, EFFICIENCY AND FAIRNESS.”
Morarji Desai

Jawaharlal Nehru had once written that there are “very few people whom I respect so much for their rectitude, ability, efficiency and fairness as Morarji Desai”. Clearly, it was an opinion his daughter shared. She stripped Desai of the Finance Ministry on the grounds he was resisting her radical economic agenda. He had no choice but to quit. A consistent contender for the prime minister’s post—he had fought Indira Gandhi in 1967—he finally got his chance in 1977 after the Janata Party rode to power, and became one of the world’s oldest heads of state at 81.

BANK ORDER

Indira Gandhi’s ordinance nationalising 14 scheduled commercial banks, whose deposits exceeded Rs 50 crore, was invalidated by the Supreme Court a year later, but the Government used a Presidential order to re-nationalise them. In the first six months of nationalisation, 1,100 new branches were opened and loans were given to small-scale entrepreneurs and farmers.

S. NIJALINGAPPA Congress president, on Indira Gandhi
“Tragedy overtakes democracy when a leader who rises to power due to popularity, becomes a political narcissist.”

SILENT MADNESS

Khamoshi, directed by Asit Sen, with Waheeda Rehman in the lead, was one of the finest films of the talented actor. With powerful performances by Rajesh Khanna and Nasir Hussein, and Dharmendra in a guest appearance, the film had some disturbing scenes (when Rehman goes insane) and songs that live on (Woh shaam kuchh ajeeb thi and Tum pukar lo).

ELSEWHERE...

Nixon suggested an eight-point Vietnam peace plan on May 14, but Xuan Thuy, head of the North Vietnam delegation to the Paris peace talks, rejected his suggestion of mutual withdrawal of troops from South Vietnam.

Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon, aboard the Apollo-11, the first manned mission to the moon. He was accompanied by Edwin Aldrin.

Czechoslovakia became a two-nation federation of Czech and Slovak republics.

DID YOU KNOW

The Congress Working Committee met in two separate groups for the first time in history, with one group led by Indira Gandhi and the other by S. Nijalingappa.

1970: INDIA AT 60

THE UPPER HAND

PICTURE SPEAK

HEAR, HEAR: Indira Gandhi went to the electorate with a new socialist agenda

REWIND

Indira Gandhi decided to play big sister. The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, passed in 1969, came into effect. The BBC was asked to close down operations in India for broadcasting a French film, L’Inde Fantome, by Louis Malle, which sought to depict the “real India”. A nationwide land-grab movement by the CPI, Praja Socialist Party and Sanghata Socialist Party fizzled out with the arrest of 4,500 people. The same year, communist leader Jyoti Basu escaped an attempt on his life in Patna. The federal structure wobbled, with Tamil Nadu demanding devolution of power. In calling for early general elections and appealing to the electorate with a new socialist agenda and that famous campaign line, “They say Indira hatao, I say garibi hatao”, she set in motion a new era of populism in Indian politics.

ROMANCING A NEW STAR

Shakti Samanta’s Kati Patang became a hit at the box office not only for its tear-jerker storyline, but also for its music, which established Kishore Kumar as the voice of Rajesh Khanna. The film featured hit songs like Na koi umang hai and Yeh jo mohabbat hai. Asha Parekh’s performance as a runaway bride pretending to be a widow was riveting. Khanna’s star was on the ascendant.

FIRST CUT

Fourteen-year-old Ved Prakash won the first gold for India in the light flyweight wrestling competition at the Commonwealth Games.

Nagendra Singh became the first Indian president of the International Court of Justice.

The foundation stone of India’s first and the world’s largest coal-based fertiliser plant was laid at Talcher, Orissa.

DID YOU KNOW

The controversial 2,244-metre-long Farakka Barrage of West Bengal, built for the sharing of the Ganga waters, was completed in 1970, but the water was diverted only in 1975.

“WE CAN’T REMAIN VICTIMS OF MARKET FORCES.”
Y.B. Chavan

So said Yashwantrao Balwantrao Chavan during his term as Finance Minister. Through his blazing political career as the right hand man of Indira Gandhi, the Maratha icon who started out as the first chief minister of Maharashtra held several key Cabinet portfolios. His decisiveness as defence minister during the 1965 war didn’t go unnoticed, and in 1970, with the reins of the Home Ministry in his hands, he was the one to introduce the bill for annulling the princes’ privileges in Parliament.

TRUE LIES

The cloud of mystery surrounding Lal Bahadur Shastri’s death darkened as the Government ruled out a judicial probe into the case. Shastri had died in January 1966, after signing a no-war agreement with Pakistan President Ayub Khan in Tashkent, Soviet Union. He was said to have died of a heart attack that night, but many still believe there was more to it.

ELSEWHERE...

Israel launched its first ever overland assault on Lebanon. Jordan cracked down on Palestinians, driving them into Lebanon (below).

Tension between China and the Soviet Union mounted, with each accusing the other of preparing for war.

Japan launched its first satellite, Ohsumi-1, becoming the fourth nation with a space rocket powerful enough to launch satellites into Earth’s orbit, after the Soviet Union, the US and France.

36,000 miles was the distance travelled by Indira Gandhi between December 1970 and the elections that were held ten weeks later. She addressed almost 300 meetings and was seen or heard by an estimated 20 million people.

1971: INDIA AT 60

THUMPING WINS

PICTURE SPEAK

TASTE OF VICTORY: General Niazi (centre) surrenders to Lt-Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora (left)

REWIND

In one fell swoop, India’s image changed from peace to power. The Fifth Lok Sabha elections saw the Congress bagging 350 of the 518 seats polled, but it wasn’t the only victory in the year. India supported East Pakistan’s struggle for independence—as Indira Gandhi told the National Press Club in Washington, this was not a “civil war” but “a genocidal punishment of civilians for having voted democratically”. The third Indo-Pakistan war broke out on December 3, but 11 days later the Pakistani army was forced to surrender in East Pakistan and India recognised the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.

FIRST CUT

Himachal Pradesh, a Union Territory since 1950, was formally declared a state on January 25 under the Himachal Pradesh Act, 1971.

Air India’s first jumbo jet plane Boeing 747, named Emperor Ashoka, landed at Bombay.

Just prior to the Indo-Paksitan was, an Indian Airlines Fokker Friendship aircraft, Ganga, was hijacked on its way to Lahore and destroyed by the hijackers.

DID YOU KNOW

Before Parliament abolished the privy purses of the princes, proclaiming them to be normal citizens, annual benefits to the 278 princes ran into several crores, with the highest amount of $3,50,000 paid to the Maharaja of Mysore.

Tanker Trails

In response to Pakistan’s pre-emptive air strike, IAF helicopters had transported 1,270 men across river Meghna and brought 40 tonne of equipment in a day. At Longewalla, enemy tankers (right) attempted a breakthrough, but the iaf blocked most of them.

“DACCA IS NOW FREE.”
S.H.F.J. Manekshaw

“Dacca is now the free capital of a free country.” When Indira Gandhi announced this in Parliament, it was a tribute to Chief of Army Staff Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw’s war strategy, which resulted in Pakistan’s unconditional surrender in the Bangladesh war and 90,000 soldiers being taken as POWs. The Indian Army beat back all principal offensives at Poonch, Chhamb and Longewala with heavy losses to the enemy. Decades later, Manekshaw revealed in a BBC interview that in 1970, Indira Gandhi had feared he would stage a military coup. He was awarded the title of Field Marshal in 1973.

CRICKET CRAZY

In what turned out to be a golden year for Indian cricket, it discovered its greatest batsman, Sunil Gavaskar, as he plundered 774 runs in his debut series as he took India home to its first Test series win in the Caribbean in March. Then, they repeated the feat in England in August.

MERA DIL JO MERA HOTA...

Anubhav portrayed a complex relationship between a busy husband (Sanjeev Kumar) and a neglected wife (Tanuja). Directed by master of middle-class cinema, Basu Bhattacharya, it used minimum supporting characters and background music. The ticking clock heard throughout the film, used as a metaphor for loneliness, made a powerful statement.

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The Bretton Woods System broke down under the deficit spending by the US, which then suspended the convertibility of dollar to gold.

The Apollo 14 mission sent men to the moon for the third time.

Idi Amin became president of Uganda after a coup (below), seizing power from Milton Obote, who was responsible for Uganda’s independence in 1962.

Three cosmonauts died on a Soviet space mission, Soyuz 11.

3,42,944 was the number of polling stations in the general elections of 1971. The size of the electorate was

275 million and 1,769,802 Indians were on polling duty in the country. There were 66 cases of booth-capturing, as many as 52 of them in Bihar.

1972: INDIA AT 60

HALFWAY HOUSE

PICTURE SPEAK

LANDMARK DEAL: Indira and Bhutto signing the Simla Agreement

REWIND

There couldn’t have been a better way to celebrate the silver jubilee of Independence. Fresh from a victory in the 1971 war, Indira Gandhi signed the Simla Agreement with Pakistan Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, aiming to “put an end to the conflict and confrontation” and maintain the line of control that resulted from the ceasefire of 1971. Bhutto promised he would persuade his people to accept its conversion into the international border. India insisted the two nations would settle their differences “by peaceful means through bilateral negotiations”.

BAD TO WORSE

There were more illiterates in 1972 than there had been in 1947. Drop-out rates were very high and only a small proportion of those enrolled in universities graduated. Thanks to the various initiatives launched by the government over the years, India’s literacy rate has improved by almost 50 per cent since 1947 and now stands at 61 per cent.

FIRST CUT

In July, Kiran Bedi became the country’s first woman IPS officer and was inducted into the Delhi cadre. She later became known for initiating prison reforms in Delhi’s Tihar Jail.

Hindustan Aeronautics produced the first agricultural aeroplane, named Basant.

THE MIDDLE ORDER

Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s debut feature film Swayamvaram (meaning one’s own choice) was critically acclaimed for its depiction of the middle class and its woes realistically. Made in Malayalam, the film told the story of a couple who eloped to marry, only to face poverty and hardship. Gopalakrishnan, a former government officer-turned Film and Television Institute of India graduate, wrote his own scripts and was heralded as a master realist the world over.

DID YOU KNOW

The Wildlife Preservation Act was passed to protect wild species like tigers and lions from extinction. It also banned the capture and sale of dancing bears.

“IF TOMORROW THE PEOPLE OF KASHMIR START A FREEDOM MOVEMENT, THE PEOPLE OF PAKISTAN WILL BE WITH THEM.”
ZULFIKAR ALI BHUTTO in Pakistan, after signing the Simla Agreement in India

YEAR OF THE FEDERATION

As India celebrated 25 years of Independence, the Congress Party swept the state elections in March, riding on Indira Gandhi’s garibi hatao programme and the victory over Pakistan. Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram were declared Union territories and Meghalaya, Manipur and Tripura were awarded the status of full-fledged states.

THE MESSIAH
M.G. Ramachandran

Expelled from the DMK in 1972, MGR, the Tamil superstar-turned-political sensation, who was originally from Kerala, also demanded an enquiry into corruption in the parent party and went on to form the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (later renamed AIADMK), named after the late Annadurai. A people’s man, he later launched the successful mid-day meal scheme as chief minister of Tamil Nadu.

When India Got its Own War Vessel

INS Nilgiri, the first British-designed Indian-built modern warship of the Leander class, was commissioned into the naval fleet in Bombay. The 2,400-tonne, anti-submarine, all-purpose frigate equipped with a highly developed radar and sonar system, was one of the most modern and sophisticated warships of the type.

ELSEWHERE...

The last of the US ground units withdrew from Vietnam. “Peace is at hand,” announced Kissinger. The US Army also turned over its base at Long Binh to the South Vietnamese army, marking the end of US military involvement in the Vietnam War.

The British Army killed 13 unarmed Roman Catholic civil rights marchers in Derry, Northern Ireland (above). The Bloody Sunday Massacre triggered anti-British riots in Ireland.

An earthquake measuring 7.0 killed a fifth of the population of Iranian province of Fars.

10,00,000 women adopted family planning measures and the country’s birth rate dropped to 3 per cent.

433 films were produced as India topped the world in film production. The Indian film industry is the biggest in the world now.

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