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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 8, 1982)
I 1 features Battalion/Page 6B April 8,19B Indira Gandhi quietiy gaining power back Congress party gaining parlimentary contr« Id United Press International NEW DELHI, India — A 64- year-old grandmother with a prominent streak of gray in her hair and more than a trace of steel in her will is out to set her self up as the supreme leader of India’s teeming millions. Prime Minister Indira Gan dhi, having failed once to gain absolute control, is quietly con solidating her political power in New Delhi. Opposition party critics ac cuse her of trying to entrench herself in a presidential form of government after abolishing parliamentary democracy and quelling opposition from the judiciary. Her path to power, they say, is through changing the nation’s constitution by engineering a two-thirds majority for her Con upper gress Party in India’s house of Parliament. With the steamroller majority it already has in the lower house, the party could push through A New Delhi business man who asked that his name not be used, said he backs her Congress Party because “she is the only personality in In dia who can hold the country together. ” any constitutional change, in cluding a presidential form of government, curbs on thejudici- ary and restrictions on civil liber- i THURSDAY NIGHT ties, they point out. Gandhi tried such measures under a national emergency in 1975 when she jailed thousands of her opponents and imposed tough press censorship. But she herself says such an emergency would not work again, that it was a one-time thing, and she appears deter mined to make the changes she wants through the legislative process. Polls show she has the popu larity needed to carry out such change. The voters who count — from the millions of subsistence- level villagers in mud huts to the throngs of urban poor — look upon her as their savior. One poll recently showed Gandhi would gain overwhelm ing majorities in both houses of Parliament if she called an elec tion today. “She is all we have,” said a rickshaw puller in New Delhi. “Who else will look after us?” A waiter who earns $22 a month in a restaurant and has voted for Gandhi three times says: “She is the only one who talks about the poor and wants to help. The others say no thing.” The lithe, sari-clad woman leader, who gave birth to two sons and now has three grand children, publicly exhibits a warm and softly feminine ex terior. But those close to her say she is a woman with an iron fist who knows what she wants and is used to getting it. It was such political determi nation that caused Gandhi to im pose the national emergency in A waiter who earns $22 a month in a restaurant and has voted for Gan dhi three times says: “She is the only one who talks about the poor and wants to help. The others say nothing. ” such sweeping power was short lived. In 1977 the opposition, angered by the harsh emergen cy provisions against political dissent, united behind the Jana ta Party and ousted Gandhi’s Congress Party. The new government also was short-lived. It made such a mess of running the country that voters returned Gandhi to power in the January 1980 elec tions with a two-thirds majority in the lower house of Parlia ment. Today there are those who say she still aches for prolonged power, that she would like to change the constitution to make herself president. “She is steadilv consolidating her power,” saia a New Delhi businessman who asked that his name not be used “for obvious June 1975 when her leadership was threatened by increasing al labor strikes, rising political opposition and a serious court case against her for election mal practices. The emergency was legal under provisions of the constitu tion but soon there were uncon stitutional moves afoot that seemed designed to establish a Gandhi dynasty. The declaration giving her Male Dancer INight! Ladies get in Free from 7 p.m.-8 p.m. 4 For 1 Highballs! Doors open to the men at 10 p.m. $3.00 Cover Charge 8-10 p.m. FALL 82 M€fll PLAN INFORMATION FOR OFF CAMPUS STUDCNTS DALLAS, the only club in town that gives away over $3,000 cash a month! DALLAS NIGHT CLUB IN THE DEUX CHENE COMPLEX BEHIND K MART. COLLEGE STATION 693-2818 Food Services will validate off campus students desir ing a contract board plan, to dine at the facility of their choice, limited only by the capacity of each facility. There will be no quota or waiting list. Validation will begin at the Sbisa Office on August 9, 1982, with personal presentation of paid fee slip. reasons. “She will make her move when she gets a two-thirds ma jority in both houses of Parlia ment and has the judiciary under her control,” he said. He backs her Congress Party because “she is the only person ality in India who can hold the country together.” Many others feel the same — that there is nowhere to turn for a leader with less personal ambi tion. Opposition parties are in a shambles and have lost credibil ity among the voters. Their attempts at unity have been un successful because of widely dif fering political views. Most criticism of Gandhi now comes from the divided opposi tion parties, a small section of the Indian press, ajudiciary pat terned after the British model and from dissidents within her own party. She seems capable of dealing with them all by passing laws, transferring judges, making telephone calls to newspapers and by quickly and ruthlessly ousting dissenters in her Con gress Party. “In fact,” said a veteran In dian journalist, “she has been able to reintroduce practically all of the repressive emergency measures, either by laws passed by Parliament or by covert ex ecutive action.” Not long ago a reporter for a New Delhi newspaper turned in a story saying a multinational conference sponsored by India had failed. “I made him rewrite it,” said his editor. "With a negative lead, I knew we would get a call from the lady’s office the next morning.” Jyoti Basu, Communist Par- ty-Marxist boss and chief minis ter of West Bengal State, recent ly accused Gandhi of using strong-arm tactics in trying to control India’s judiciary. He referred to her use of a legal but controversial executive order to transfer judges without their consent. , A law recently enacted by Parliament, the Preventive De tention Act, empowers the gov ernment to imprison for up to two years without trial any per son suspected of intending to cause public disdrder. It re placed a similar law used during the 1975 emergency. Another law bans strikes in all government and public utility opposition from states the governments are not: trolled by the Congress Fait; I Though accused of a j Soviet bias and an American stance during 1 years in office as prime mi from 1966-77, Gandhi that India’s real position oq political spectrum is inthei; die — meaning non-alipra United I 0KLAH tead of sta [jack Linn t ith a lot c Linn’s 1 “If we are going tobtij men,” she said in a recentic view, “the Americans wilt port us. I don’t think thel'rt States would like a firmret l ship with a country thatwaiit| go its own way.” While Indo-U.S. politia| lations have been at an a lo since she returned tof there has been a strongsurj U.S. economic involvemeul especially in private investra| with the United States i slightly behind Britain. But U.S. arms aid toP and India's refusal to open! J ticize the Soviet invasiorj Afghanistan have soured p tical relations in recent moiiJ The fiery Basu of West Bengal says yes, that “she is out to destroy Parliamentary demo cracy in India.” He ac cuses her of planning to establish a Gandhi Dynasty. At the end of March,! dhi's party scored heavitj biennial elections to the I Sabha, the upper houseofij liament, but still was achieve a two-thirds majorel However, opposition | members say that with] horsetrading and supportfril other parties, Gandhi couldfj muster the two-thirds: needed in both houses tod India’s p>olitical system t tionally. forming a into an j fithin a ha idvenlurel fMoines wai ingnearly C all ages. His cun lifferent p |is already th m image cl revitalizatio Frontiei [Oklahoma < jl958. Its gi jern attract [been popul [community [outsiders as [town. But it ha down condi [and now n jpetition fro [water them 1300,000 gu< [year of ope Frontier lings are \ [looking. We [the mock ( [ronts. A sec [of the pari jl976 is an e) [dump wilhi | the attractic services and can be extended to private transport and any fac tory producing consumer S noods. Strikers can be summari- y dismissed or even detained without trial. Gandhi has introduced another piece of legislation that would give the central govern ment the power to send army and paramilitary troops to any state to curb public disorder without the consent of local au thorities. That law faces formidable Does Gandhi really inteii:| set herself up as president far greater powers than shed exercises? “1 can’t | was deterioi it wasn’t I (said. “It’s ju ■ to tell on a ! lures.” The fiery Basu of Westll fryl . gal says yes, that "she is ei p 1 | O | destroy ParliamemarydemKr*- ^ cy in India.” He accuseskj to establish a G; ynasty. Gandhi plunged into life period of deep mourning,! just as quickly recovered and gan grooming her eldest* Rajiv, as her protege. 1 United Pres SEATTLE - School named for Twain bans author’s famous book Wack United Preu International FAIRFAX, Va. — A school named for author Mark Twain has censored his book, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” because it portrays blacks in a demeaning fashion. John Wallace, a school admi nistrator who opposed using the American classic, called it a grotesque example of racist trash, the Fairfax Journal said Wednesday. The principal of Mark Twain Intermediate School, John Mar tin, accepted the recommenda tions of a group comprised of teachers, parents and adminis trators asked to review the situa tion after the school’s human OFFICIAL NOTICE General Studies Program Students who pfan to Pre-Register for the Fall Semester in the General Studies Program are URGED to pick up a Pre-registration Form in Room 100 of Harrington Tower from Mar. 29 thru Apr. 16. If you’re a senior and have the promise of a $10,000 career-oriented job, American Express would like to offer you the American Express" Card. What are we . 7 Crazy? No, confident. Confident of your future. But even more than that. We’re confident of you now. And we’re proving it. A $10,000 job promise. That’s it. No strings. No gimmicks. 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Don’t leave school without iff liiiiiiiiHiHitHmwHHniniiHmiiimmiiiiiiiiimimiiiiiiimimiiiiiiiiimimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiif nil and his wii guihv in federa his drowning ir $113,000 wort! air i I U.S. Distil Jihn Coughem rights committee in Deceff P* e f* 1 uesc * a y ( requested the book be rernof 111 us W1 t ‘’ 11 from the curriculum. ^ Il f° a PP ear The committee re(f' Ma y f mended that Huckleberry! lj ncei ledoi shouldn’t be assigned to PMowinjaih classes or read aloud in thtb f’■. ate , a m ' fax County school. jars m prison < We object to the flagrant ^ ^ of the word ‘ n 'W r ’ M Bishop,' 26, meaning way in which M ^ on Nc - P eo { )le are u ponrayed mi p fishing trip book the human relation® ion ,,^ s f r mittee s original complaints jF in court It causes low self-este® a T mitted he t( black children, which teni‘ prior t0 his de make them leel mferior> w causes white children toha« Germany.” tie or no respect nor esteem: blacks,” the complaint said Wallace, who is chairman * 1 the human relations comir and signed the complaint. 1 the Journal that "black farm! for the past 40 to 45 years k* been going up to schools M ery district in America sad ‘this book is bad for ourtj dren,’ and nobody haslisteitj So now they’re going to listfj Applications for 180 Student Positions on 32 University Committees available in #216C MSC April 5-16 Look for an application on campus. deadline: April 16 at 5 p.m. Get involved in decision-making at Texas A&M. Committees include: Academic and Disciplinary Appeals, Student Organizations Board, Head Yell Leader Selection, and Who’s Who Selection. * Travel Ser ? Offices ;>f American Express Company, ns s . and Represent.,, € American Express Company, 1982. TUDENT GOVERNMENT r E X A S A&M U N I V |£ R SI TV the most sue loss prograir WEIGH'