Local Theater

A star upstages Mrs. Gandhi

For the ruling Congress (I) Party, the campaign had all the characteristics of an expensive national election. The party's motorcades were colorful, strewn with flowers and loaded with loudspeakers blaring campaign slogans and songs. Cabinet ministers were brought from New Delhi to address rallies. An estimated $5 million was spent to give each of Congress (I)'s 576 candidates five vehicles, 20,000 posters, 200 cloth banners, 10,000 paper badges, 50,000 pamphlets and a $10,000 campaign fund. It was not a campaign for the national parliament, however, but for legislatures in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and the northeastern state of Tripura. Nonetheless, India's Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, 65, was out to win big. Just to make sure, she spent 16 days barn storming through the three states, appealing to their 54 million voters.

She might as well have stayed home. After the polls closed last week, it was clear that Mrs. Gandhi had lost -- badly. Nearly everywhere, Congress (I)'s candidates were trailing well behind opposition party members. In Andhra Pradesh, they were routed by followers of a new political party, founded last March by one of India's top movie stars, N.T. Rama Rao, 60. N.T.R., as he is known, campaigned from the back of a renovated 40-year-old Chevrolet, and beneath giant copies of his old movie posters, in favor of greater local autonomy. Never attacking Mrs. Gandhi by name, N.T.R. delivered a simple message: "India's leaders in their pursuit of power and personal gain have reduced the people to penury." Countered Mrs. Gandhi: "I like drama and so do you, but politicians can not be made a subject of entertainment."

For the Prime Minister, there was more at stake than the selection of local legislators. Two of the three states (Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka) have been Gandhi political fiefs for decades, and her party was a clear favorite. Thus last week's defeat will surely weaken Mrs. Gandhi's authority over Congress (I). More important, it could spur internal Indian strife, lending strength to the nation's growing number of ethnic and political separatist movements.

Indeed, even as the votes were being counted, election tension erupted in violence. In Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh, two people were fatally stabbed and more than 70 others were wounded before a dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.