An Explosive Quality

It seemed an odd reason for a riot.

For months the government had been discussing plans to build India's fifth state-owned steel mill, and one of the likely sites was near the coastal city of Vizagapatnam in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. Several weeks ago, in an effort to force the government's hand to start building the plant soon, a regional patriot named Amruta Rao went on a hunger strike. Little by little, noisy support for his demand spread through out the state. Last week mobs went on a rampage in dozens of towns, burning post offices and railway stations, tearing down telegraph lines and looting private shops. Finally, after 18 rioters were killed in clashes with police, army troops were brought in by air to restore order.

The incident was symptomatic of India's current jitters, which make the slightest cause a provocation of mob violence. In New Delhi last week, when a bus failed to stop for waiting students, the youths chased it down, shooed out the driver and passengers, and set it afire. In Allahabad, Kanpur and Calcutta, mobs stopped and sacked trains and buses -- for little better reason. Delhi rioters had not much to fear from the police, for the policemen themselves were busy demonstrating for higher pay outside police headquarters; some cops told students that they would not interfere with their demonstrations so long as the students refrained from attacking police below the grade of inspector.

"For Sod's Sake, So!" To some extent, India's dark mood stems from the hopelessness of the country's economic situation. Reports from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh suggested that the fall harvest throughout India is falling far short of expected goals--grim warning of a repeat of last year's food crisis, when the country was saved from outright starvation only by the shipment of 10 million tons of U.S. food. The current bitterness also seems to reflect widespread dismay over the failure of political leaders to provide dramatic remedies for India's huge problems.

As Parliament convened last week for the final session before next February's national elections, six no-confidence measures were introduced against Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her government by opposition parties, on everything from the stagnating economic situation to "self-righteous" foreign policy. Cried Minoo Masani, leader of the conservative Swatantra Party: "For God's sake, go while there is still some administration and order left! Do not destroy the country before you go."

With the Congress Party's solid majority, the censure motions had no chance of success. Nor was the party that has ruled India since 1947 in any danger of losing control next February. But within the party itself, there was some grumbling about the lady Prime Minister. Some Congress members blamed her tendency to capitulate in the face of public demonstrations for encouraging pressure groups to bully the government. When the goldsmiths took to the streets last August to protest against government control of the gold content in jewelry, Indira caved in and relaxed official supervision. Similarly, last week she gave in to the demands of a Hindu sect that cow slaughter be banned by announcing that the government intends to proscribe the killing of cows in those areas of India directly administered by the federal government.

The grumbling also reflected deep splits within the party and the fact that some party leaders are waiting for Indira to stumble so that they themselves can make a bid for power.

Imaginary Line. For all the gloom, there was one bright spot last week. A Sikh state was officially created out of a part of Punjab, and its birth brought forth none of the communal rioting that had earlier been feared. The new state marked the end of a 19-year campaign by India's 7,000,000 Sikhs for a territory of their own. Jawaharlal Nehru resisted the demand mainly on the ground that such a state would be essentially a religious entity. But the Sikhs argued that they were the only ones among India's 14 major linguistic groups that had not been given a state.

Nehru's daughter was more sympathetic. Last March, when she approved the Sikh request, the issue provoked bloody riots by Hindus in Punjab. Last week all was peaceful. Under the solution, Hindus and Sikhs alike were given a separate part of Punjab, and will share the city of Chandigarh as a joint capital. An imaginary vertical line runs through the Corbusier-designed secretariat building so that both sides may use it.

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