Actor's Inequity

Gandhi allies oust an ex-idol

Dressed in the saffron robes of a holy man, a role he played in many of his 300 films, Actor-Turned-Politician N.T. Rama Rao, 61, was mobbed by reporters and supporters when he arrived last week in New Delhi, India's capital. Though still recuperating from a recent heart bypass operation, Rama Rao had made the two-hour flight from his home state of Andhra Pradesh to protest his sudden ouster a few days earlier as chief minister, the state's top elected official. Rama Rao had been swept into that office only last year, when his Telugu Desam party won control of the state assembly by taking 199 of its 295 seats. But if a chief minister no longer commands a majority, he can be dismissed by the governor of the state. Andhra Pradesh's governor, who is loyal to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her ruling Congress (I) Party--the I is for Indira--ousted Rama Rao on the dubious grounds that too many Telugu Desam legislators had defected to other parties. When news of Rama Rao's dismissal spread, violent protests erupted across Andhra Pradesh. Before they were over, 27 people had been killed and 440 injured, including 70 policemen.

Rama Rao's purpose in going to New Delhi was to make a personal appeal for reinstatement to Indian President Zail Singh. Rama Rao was accompanied by 162 loyal members of the Andhra Pradesh assembly. Their intention was to demonstrate to Zail Singh that the chief minister would have won a vote of confidence if he had been given the chance to call one. The President, however, was noncommittal, promising only that there would be "early justice."

Critics of Mrs. Gandhi, noting that she must call national elections by next January, suspect that Rama Rao's removal is part of a precampaign maneuver to strengthen the Prime Minister's hand in the six of India's 22 states that Congress (I) did not control. Only six weeks before Rama Rao's fall in Andhra Pradesh, Gandhi loyalists had similarly ousted the chief minister of the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir. The furor over Rama Rao's removal has probably bought time for the chief ministers of the other four states--Karnataka, Tripura, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. In an unaccustomed show of unity last week, opposition politicians met in New Delhi to protest what they called the "blatantly unconstitutional" dismissals and the "extinction of democracy." The leaders insisted that the Prime Minister was directly responsible for "this dangerous game of destabilization," and agreed to organize nationwide agitation against Mrs. Gandhi as the election deadline approaches.