There was the drought during which many people thought we just would not survive. But it was that very time that we utilized to introduce our new agricultural strategy which today has made us self-sufficient.
You spoke of our elections. They were not easily won. I was telling Mrs Nixon just now that we had a very short time at our disposal because we decided to hold the elections a year and a quarter earlier than we need have, because we were just tried of people telling us: “You are the minority Government. You have no right to do this and you have no right to do that". We said, “all right, let’s have elections”. In 43 days I traveled 36,000 miles. I had 375 meetings, all with over 100,000 people, some with 200,000 or 250,000. This was one person’s effort, but it also naturally needed the efforts of hundreds of thousands of other people. Why we won the election was not merely because of our effort, but because we were able to convince the people who are in a majority, the poor people, the smaller business men, the smaller farmers, those who had been under-privileged, the minorities, and, above all, the young people of all classes, that we had something to offer which others did not.
So, the campaign became not a campaign of a political party, but a campaign of the people. I don’t know what happens in the United States, but not all of our workers were equally enthusiastic about all our candidates. (President Nixon: It is the same.) In some places naturally we thought we had the best candidate. In some places we sometimes didn’t for various reasons. But there were many places where we thought we would not win because there was not co-operation between the candidate and those who were supposed to make him win. But this is where the people came to the fore and said, “if this is a candidate belonging to Mrs. Gandhi’s party, we will make him win, whether the party wants him or not, or anybody else wants him or not”. This is how we won these elections.
We had met in the new Parliament for only a week, and like all politicians we were still busy patting each other on the back and congratulating one another, when suddenly our entire world changed. What seemed to be a part of sunlight, just waiting for us to go ahead and solve the problems which remained, was covered with a very large dark shadow. And without warning, a major crisis erupted across our frontiers and well nigh engulfed us, seriously threatening our hard-earned stability.
What has happened is now part of contemporary history, I shall not dwell on it, but may I recall the sheer magnitude of the problem? Can you think of the entire population of Michigan State suddenly converging on the New York State? Imaging the strain on space on the administration, on services such as health and communications, on resources such as food and money, and this not in conditions of affluence, but in a country already battling with problems of poverty and population.
We are paying the price of our traditions of an open society. Of all people surely those of the Unites States should understand this. Has not your own society been built of people who have fled from social and economic injustices? Have not your doors always been open?
