'HONEST MAN' FIGHTS FOR TRUTH

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000402820040-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 28, 2012
• Sequence Number: 40
• Publication Date: July 18, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/29: CIA-RDP9O-00965ROO0402820040-5
By Nadine Epstein
Former Indian Prime Minister
Morarji Desai rises at 4 a.m.
each day to pray, fasts one
day each fortnight to cleanse
his body and drinks his own urine
daily. Having little faith in modern
medicine, the 90-yearold states-
man has not been to a doctor in
more than 50 years.
But while the ascetic nonage-
narian radiates a simplicity and
well-being that admits no worries
in this life, he has at least one. He
is concerned that his historical rep-
utation may have been tarnished
by the words of Pulitzer Prize-
winning journalist Seymour Hersh;
so concerned that he has flown 29
hours each way between Bombay
and Chicago twice since May, 1984,
to pursue a $100 million libel suit
against Hersh and the publishing
firm of Simon & Schuster.
A?TICLE APF?VEA
'CHICAGO Tp.IRUHF
PAS 18 July 1985
"Honest man' fits for t
India's Desai battling charges of links to the CIA
whole character. That is where the
whole issue comes in."
Desai's ire was aroused when a
Chicago-based organization known
as Indians Abroad for Truth called
and asked him to sue Hersh, offer-
ing to cover his expenses.
"They phone to me in Bombay in
1984 and said that this is an insult
to the whole nation, not only to me,
and asked me to file a case," Desai
says. "If I said no, there would be
a presumption that I had
something to hide."
"The majority of Indians remem-
ber Desai because he is one of our
oldest leaders," says supporter
Bhailal Patel, chairman of Indians
Abroad for Truth. "He has always
lived a spiritual life, and people in
India know that and admire him."
"Does Desai want little children
in the Gujarti Can Indian. state]
school system to learn that Morarji
Desai betrayed his country to the
Americans? ' asks Susanne Ru-
dolph, professor of political science
at the University Chicago and
head of the school's South Asian
Languages and Area Center.
cabinet secrets in 1971. "Desai's a man of great rectitude
"I had no connectio with and stubbornness. He has a mla-
CIA." ptsW says. **1 was in parka- tively dignified past. He has what
ment in 1971]. He says I passed he considers is a right conviction,
cabinet secrets, but I was in the but God help you if you are on the
opposition. I couldn't have had any other side."
access [to secrets]." Although Desai has made many
While many Americans do not enemies over the years, Rudolph
remember his as a pivotal part of believes that "Morarji Desai
Indian politics, Desai is big news at wouldn't be bought.
home. He has been a major, con- "Even people who are inimical to
troversial powerbroker on the Indi- him support him in this," she says,
an political scene since the 1940s. adding that she believes that
So it was no surprise that Hersh's Hersh's statements are "certainly
accusations received headline cov- incompatible with an understand-
erage in Indian newspapers, em- ing of the man and Indian politics."
barrassing the former prime minis- Understanding the man and Indi-
ter. an politics is not easy.
A veteran of the Indian national- Much of Desai's tical life and
ist movement, the slightly built national image reflects his very
Desai took over the helm of the personal philosophy that has its
Indian nation and its 713 million roots in the 700-verse Bhagavad-
people in 1973 when Indira Gandhi ghita that he says he knows en-
was voted out of office after invok- tiMy by heart. His philosophy also
ing emergency powers that observ- reflects the strong influence ex-
ers worried would lead to a Gandhi erted on his life by Mahatma Gan-
family dynasty. dhi, the revered leader with whom
Desai headed the Janata [Peo- Desai has tried to build an associa-
ple's] Party coalition but resigned lion over the years.
two years later when the coalition "Desai is an old Gandhian," Ru-
disintegrated. His administration dolph says. "This means you cons-
was filled with dissension. true yourself as doing public serv-
You see, if somebody said I was r" ?
a bad prime minister I wouldn't 1 believe in serving human
pother about it," Desai says. "But needs," Desai said, "and politics is
vhen they say I was a traitor to a part of life. If I get out of it I'll
iy country, it takes away our not be sorry. If I get in it I'll not be
worried. My philosophy has always
been: Do the work that comes your
Way. I have never sought anything
in my life that I have done."
serving as prime
That
hes
aid, although his role
in the political maneuverings of
the Janata Party is well recorded.
"That also I didn't ask for," he
said. "They selected me. They
were surprised that I went to sleep
,on election night]. They thought I
would be working, asking some-'
body. I didn't ask somebody. I
didn't ask any one man to propose
me."
Still, Desai has omitted some
details that do not support his
claims. He was the center of atten-
tion during the move to replace
Indira Ghandi. As finance minister
in the 1960x, be had enormous
influence on his country and enjoy-
ed the public attention, often going
out of his way to pose for publicity
photos with other world leaders.
At first, Desai refuses to talk
about his time in office, then, sud-
denly sounding more like a politi-
cian, the former prime minister
recalls that most Indians had good
memories of his policies of encour-
aging agriculture and small-scale
high-tech industries.
"They remember it for the easy
prices that they had and the easy
way things were available," he
,says. "They say that there was
never such a time before in all
these years."
And despite his emphasis on the
spiritual life, he admits that there
are conflicts.
"To live in truth is difficult in
India as well as anywhere, but in
'America there is more material
life," he says. "Very few people
can keep control over them-
selves--anywhere.
"Is there any country where
they say honesty is wrong? They
say honesty is the best policy, but
=honesty honest men are there?"
Still, he insists, he is an honest
man. Selfishness, he says, is not
part of his persona.
"I am able to get over it because
I have no ambition," he says. "My
ambition in life is only to realize
truth."
Rudolph, for one, does not accept
his claim of perfection.
"He is not a perfect man; he's a
man of great ambition. He is
flawed. For example, he closed his
eyes to what his son has done.
"His son used his father's posi-
tion to.advnhrftaid Mo-
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/29: CIA-RDP9O-00965ROO0402820040-5