GANDHI, DUE IN SOVIET, GOES AS FRIEND

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000807290002-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 3, 2012
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: May 21, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/03: CIA-RDP90-00965R000807290002-7
NEW YORK TIMES
21 May, 1985
Gandhi, Due in Soviet,. Goes as Friend,
By STEVEN R. WEISMAN
Special to The New York Times
NEW DELHI, May 20 - Prime
Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who initially
struck many diplomats as potentially
pro-Western in outlook, has embarked
on a new campaign to strenghthen ties
with the Soviet Union and reassure the
public of his devotion to socialism.
Mr. Gandhi's efforts culminate this
week in a five-day visit to the Soviet
Union, including a meeting in Moscow
with Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the Soviet
leader. Political commentators here
say the Prime Minister deliberately
chose Moscow for his first major trip
overseas since taking office last
November.
In June, the 40-year-old Prime Minis-
ter is to visit the United States to meet
with President Reagan and open the
Festival of India. That trip has been
hailed by many as likely to contribute
to a new era of cooperation between
New Delhi and Washington.
A succession of senior American offi-
cials have stopped by India recently,
each one praising Mr. Gandhi for his
steps to ease Government control of the
economy. Others have noted with satis-
faction that Mr. Gandhi seems to have
stepped up the attempt to diversify the
purchases of military weapons so that
India no longer relies exclusively on
the Soviet Union.
Disappointment Is Predicted
Yet for all these moves, many ex=
perts here caution against any feeling
in the West that Mr. Gandhi will reori-
ent basic Indian policies away from
support of Moscow on many issues.
, "This euphoria in the West is abso-
lutely dangerous," said Bhabani Sen
Gupta, a specialist on the Soviet Union
at the Center for Policy Research. "It
is bound to lead to disappointment.
Rajiv Gandhi will build upon Indo-
Soviet relations as the first foundation
of his foreign policy."
There were certainly expressions of
friendship on the eve of Mr. Gandhi's
departure for Moscow on Tuesday. Mr.
Gorbachev told the Press Trust of
India news agency that the coming
visit was "a big event in the life of our
two states."
Mr. Gandhi, meanwhile, told Tass:
"The economic and commercial rela-
tions between our two countries have
registered spectacular growth in re-
cent years. India attaches great impor-
tance to them."
' Government officials here said also
that during the visit Moscow would
grant a "substantial" amount of new
commercial credits to build power gen-
erators and factories in India. Romesh
Bhandari, the Indian Foreign Secre-
tary, said that Soviet-Indian trade this
year was expected to be $3.7 billion, a
20 percent increase over last year, and
that it would continue to grow.
American experts say also that In-
dian-American trade is likely to in-
crease from its level of $4 billion this
year.
But Moscow has granted many con-
cessions and incentives. The major
Soviet-Indian economic accords, for in-
stance, permit India to pay in rupees.
In the military area, India has been
given billions of dollars in other conces-
sions, enabling it to buy MIG fighter-
bombers and reconnaissance planes,
tanks, helicopters, transport planes,
artillery, frigates and missiles.
Only in the last few years has India
looked to France, West Germany, Italy
and other countries in the West for
weapons.
Experts agree, however, that Soviet-
Indian friendship is based on far more
than trade and military assistance. It
is rooted, even Western diplomats ac-
knowledge, in a shared vision of what
should be the proper strategic balance
in South Asia. Mr. Reagan is therefore
deemed able to disturb that vision.
Pakistani Aid Seen as Threat
The main point of the Indian-Amer-
ican disagreements has been Pakistan,
India's chief rival in the region and, for
the last five years, America's chief
friend there.
India and Pakistan have fought three
wars since their independence in 1947.
The last time, in 1971, when the United
States was "tilting" to Pakistan, the
Soviet Union backed India with votes
and vetoes at the United Nations.
Today, the $1.6 billion American
military aid package for Pakistan is re-
garded by Indian officials as a major
threat. American officials defend the
aid as an attempt to bolster Pakistan as
a counterweight to the presence of
more than 100,000 Soviet troops in Af-
ghanistan. But Indian officials note
that Pakistan has fewer troops on its
border with Afghanistan than on its
border with India.
To the annoyance of American diplo-
mats, Prime Minister Gandhi has kept
up the practice of his mother, Indira
Gandhi, of vehemently criticizing the
American aid to Pakistan.
Help for Rebels Criticized
1 jias gone even further, denounc-
ingAmerican cove assistance to e
rebels in Afghanistan as creating insta-
bilitin the region. Aides to the Prime
Minister argue that helping the Afghan
insurgents only stiffens the resolve of
the Russians and even raises the threat
of their retaliation against Pakistan.
"If the Government of Pakistan falls
as a result, who knows what mess will
be left in our lap?" a senior Indian offi-
cial said.
American diplomats acknowledge
that they have been frustrated and
sometimes even infuriated by the In-
dian refusal to denounce the Soviet
sweep into Afghanistan in the last week
of 1979, as almost all members of the
United Nations did.
But few think India is likely to
change its view, no matter how much it
purchases weapons for the West or
eases up on socialism at home.
There are those, in fact, who see Mr.
Gandhi's trip to Moscow as an attempt
to assure Mr. Gorbachev that India in-
tends to stand by its longtime friend de-
spite news reports of Mr. Gandhi's sup-
posedly pro-Western orientation. "I'm
sure the Prime Minister will try his
best to reassure them," Mr. Sen Gupta
said.
Taxes Are Reduced
As for the economic situation at
home, political analysts wonder how
much further Mr. Gandhi will be able
to keep up his revisions that have intro-
duced free market theories into the In-
dian economy. The Prime Minister has
acted not only to cut Government regu-
lations but also cut taxes as an incen-
tive for increased saving and invest-
ment.
Commentators have been fascinated
by the Prime Minister's steps and by
his talk of making industry more effi-
cient and tapping more private invest-
ment from overseas.
But the talk also produced criticism
within the ranks of the Congress (I)
Party, the latter-day version of the
Congress Party founded by Mr.
Gandhi's forebears, many of them
British-trained socialists determined
to develop India on that model.
This month the Congress Party held
a centenary celebration and used the
occasion to mollify critics by reaffirm-
ing its commitment to socialism, a
commitment Mr. Gandhi backed fully.
Also reaffirmed was the commitment
to use the Government as the engine to
achieve economic growth, higher em-
ployment and the introduction of new
technologies.
In the Soviet Union this week, Mr.
Gandhi plans to take part in many
other gestures and ceremonies of
friendship reflecting longtime Soviet-
Indian ties. Besides signing various
documents formalizing the economic
assistance, he plans to lay a wreath at
Lenin's tomb and take part in the nam-
ing of a square in Moscow after Mrs.
Gandhi, who was assassinated last Oct.
31.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/03: CIA-RDP90-00965R000807290002-7