1969 SPLIT WIDE OPEN

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India’s grand old party, the Congress, faced its first major split as the old guard led by party President, S. Nijalingappa expelled Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from the party for “fostering a cult of personality”. The “Syndicate”, as the senior members were called, could not quite come to terms with the fact that the “gungi gudiya” (dumb doll)—their snide reference for Indira—had a mind of her own. The break was complete when Indira after proposing N. Sanjeeva Reddy’s name for presidentship asked Congressmen to “vote according to their conscience”. V.V. Giri, the rebel Congress candidate won.

Death of a President

When the communal temperature was at its peak in India, the country had a Muslim president and a Muslim chief justice of the Supreme Court. After serving as vice-president to the great Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan for five years, Zakir Hussain, an academic and former vice-chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University, became the philosopher scholar’s successor at Rashtrapathi Bhavan in 1967. Hussain however had one of the briefest terms as the country’s president as he died less than two years later. He was also the first Indian president to die in office.

FIRST CUT

• The first superfast train, Rajdhani Express, was introduced between New Delhi and Howrah, with an average speed of 130 kmph.
• India’s first atomic power station at Tarapore became operational.
• The state of Madras was renamed Tamil Nadu.

1,516 sq km was the area covered by the Gir Forest Reserve of Gujarat, established in 1969. It was set up to protect lions in India, whose numbers had dwindled.

“HE HAS RECTITUDE, ABILITY EFFICIENCY AND FARINESS.”

Morarji Desai

Jawaharlal Nehru had once written that there are “very few people whom I respect so much for their rectitude, ability, efficiency and fairness as Morarji Desai”. Clearly, it was an opinion his daughter shared. She stripped Desai of the Finance Ministry on the grounds he was resisting her radical economic agenda. He had no choice but to quit. A consistent contender for the prime minister’s post—he had fought Indira Gandhi in 1967—he finally got his chance in 1977 after the Janata Party rode to power, and became one of the world’s oldest heads of state at 81.

BANK ORDER

Indira Gandhi’s ordinance nationalizing 14 scheduled commercial banks, whose deposits exceeded Rs 50 crore, was invalidated by the Supreme Court a year later, but the Government used a Presidential order to re-nationalise them. In the first six months of nationalization, 1,100 new branches were opened and loans were given to small-scale entrepreneurs and farmers.

S. Nijalingappa Congress president, on Indira Gandhi

“Tragedy overtakes democracy when a leader who rises to power due to popularity, becomes a political narcissist.”

SILENT MADNESS

Khamoshi, directed by Asit Sen, with Waheeda Rehman in the lead, was one of the finest iflms of the talented actor. With powerful performances by Rajesh Khanna and Nasir Hussein, and Dharmendra in a guest appearance, the film had some disturbing scenes (when Rehman goes insane) and songs that live on (Who shaam kuchh ajeeb thi and Tum pukar lo).

ELSEWHERE…

• Nxon suggested an eight-point Vietnam peace plan on May 14, but Xuan Thuy, head of the North Vietnam delegation to the Paris peace talks, rejected his suggestion of mutual withdrawal of troops from South Vietnam.
• Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon, aboard the Apollo-11, the first manned mission to the moon. He was accompanied by Edwin Aldrin.
• Czechoslovakia became a two-nation federation of Czech and Slovak republics.

The Congress Working Committee met in two separate groups for the first time in history, with one group led by Indira Gandhi and the other by S. Nijalingappa.

Courtesy By India Today