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Kissinger: Indira felt an almost pathological need to criticise U.S.

Henry Kissinger

Washington: The former Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, felt an “almost pathological need” to criticise America but at the same time desired an improvement in India-U.S. relations on a “more equal” basis after Washington recognised India as an “important country in the world.”

This assessment was given by the then powerful Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to President Gerald Ford after his meeting with Ms. Gandhi in October 1974, a few months after India exploded its first atomic bomb.

Mr. Kissinger’s views were contained in a memorandum put up for Mr. Ford by his National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft, the recently-released State Department documents show. After India went nuclear, Mr. Kissinger told Ms. Gandhi that the U.S. was not interested in “recriminations” but in how to prevent further proliferation.

Mr. Kissinger said he had raised concerns over New Delhi’s nuclear policy, telling Ms. Gandhi “very frankly” that “their nuclear explosion was a bomb no matter how India described it” and her undertaking not to produce nuclear weapons did not mean the next government would not do so.

“By our second meeting, she seemed to have reflected on this and asked if we had any specific proposals. I have asked [the then Ambassador Daniel P.] Moynihan to follow up this possible opening with her,” he said. — PTI

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