Gandhi Blames Woes on Foreigners
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi lashed out Saturday at foreign forces which he blamed for many of his mounting political troubles, singling out the United States while not mentioning it by name.
“India will not be cowed,” Gandhi said during a 50-minute speech before a crowd of 500,000 on the lawns near India Gate. “During our independence struggle, we sent a big power (the British) home. . . . We have not sold our country to the multinationals.”
Gandhi, 42, criticized the United States for arming India’s rival, Pakistan; for advising India to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and for allowing a U.S. investigator to warn India to conduct a thorough probe of alleged malfeasance.
Gandhi said U.S. arms sales to Pakistan are the major problem.
The investigator controversy rages over hiring of an American firm, the Fairfax Group of Virginia, to probe money held illegally by Indians in foreign bank accounts.
The hiring led to a furor in Parliament. Some lawmakers charged that Fairfax could provide information on Indians to the CIA.
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