A Deft Re-entry

Pilgrimage to a saint

For a woman who had been decried as the would-be empress of India, it was a highly effective act of expiation. After a terse announcement (which guaranteed widespread publicity), Indira Gandhi last week set off on a pilgrimage to the ashram of Acharya Vinoba Bhave, 82, spiritual heir to Mahatma Gandhi. For three days, Mrs. Gandhi squatted on the floor, shared ascetic meals and soaked up the saintly Bhave's wisdom. The retreat was a brilliant political re-entry vehicle for the former Prime Minister.

After the Congress Party's electoral debacle last March, Mrs. Gandhi had discreetly retreated into seclusion. Though she remained active in party councils, she had hoped to weather in silence the continuing condemnation of her 19-month emergency rule. But increasing isolation within the Congress Party, and the legal entanglements of her son Sanjay, 31, made that course too risky. Her foray into meditation, in fact, aimed to demonstrate her continuing appeal to India's masses. On that score, it was a striking success.

Five thousand fervent admirers turned up at the airport in Maharashtra state to greet Mrs. Gandhi en route to Bhave's ashram. Three times her cavalcade halted as she delivered her first political speeches since March. She warned that Prime Minister Morarji Desai's government could not deliver on its promise to reduce unemployment and poverty in a decade. "The Congress has a program to help the poor and the weak," she cried. "The country cannot make progress until their economic conditions improve."

Improvement still seems distant. Under Mrs. Gandhi, Indian industry was mired in deep recession--largely because of impenetrable tangles of red tape. Desai's government did, however, inherit over $4 billion in foreign reserves and record wheat stockpiles. But the Janata regime is hamstrung by internal wrangling. Squabbles over patronage have left many ministerial posts vacant. "I have no time for policymaking because I have no help," moans a minister. One result is that Desai's first budget virtually duplicates that of the former Congress government. Inflation (now 2% a month) and shortages of key commodities (edible oil and cotton) have stirred labor unrest.

Indeed, Desai's main achievement has been lifting the censorship imposed by Mrs. Gandhi's decrees. Unfettered, the press has egged on the new government's campaign against Mrs. Gandhi's son Sanjay and three of his emergency-era cronies --the so-called caucus of four. Facing two indictments for crimes during his mother's rule (the latest charge: destroying a satirical film about political sycophants), Sanjay is being investigated by a special judicial commission. Another panel probing "excesses" by Sanjay and others during the emergency has already received more than 40,000 complaints. Sanjay's passport has been impounded, and agents of the Central Bureau of Investigation watch him 24 hours a day.

Sanjay's vulnerability and Desai's wobbly government combined to inspire Mrs. Gandhi's reemergence. How she will exploit her residue of popularity remains to be seen. But last week's adulation clearly revived her legendary hauteur. When reporters asked her if she felt stronger after her meditations, she replied coolly, "I was strong already."

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