SHRI Morarji Desai told the All India Congress (O) Committee in Poona on October 27 that the Indira Government would not last long. “Things are worsening every day on the economic and political fronts and I visualise the down-fall of the Government in 12-18 months,” he said.

With an overwhelming majority in the Lok Sabha, it is difficult to visualise the fall of the Indira Government. Also our people can put up with so much nonsense that it is difficult to visualise a situation in which they will rise in revolt against the Government. In any case, with our size and diversity, a simultaneous revolt of the people is well-high inconceivable. And Government can always manage local eruptions by a clever combination of the carrot and the stick.

Nor do such revolts have to be countrywide to succeed. Should the worsening situation affect the big cities and cause massive discontent there, the whole countryside can be won over by the striking cities.

We hope and trust that no such thing will happen. This country just does not have a revolutionary background, but it will be useful to remember that neither Russia nor China had any such background either.

However, whether the present discontent explodes into a mass movement or not, fact remains that the situation is explosive enough. Prices and unemployment have been reaching new heights. The socialist economy of the Government of India has had the dubious distinction of approaching zero economic growth rate. Whatever the Government may propagate abut the economic problems of Pakistan, fact remains that wheat sells at Rs. 17 a maund in Pakistan and at as much as Rs. 50 in India.

On top of it comes corruption which has become the Congress way of life. There are obscure minister's PAs who are known to have made half a crore each. What the ministers themselves have made is anybody's guess. This is the situation in which even a mouse can turn.

This is a situation in which the Prime Minister need not wait to see whether the circumstances topple her or not. Our affairs are in bad enough shape for all patriotic forces to join their hands and unite their hearts to improve matters. If the Prime Minister think she can govern this country with the help of opportunists, loafers and comrades, year after year, she is sadly mistaken. Also she must realise that not even half the national electorate has voted for her.

Her own reputation no less than national interest, therefore, demands that she govern the Government by national consensus. She must stop sniping at the opposition and start consulting them in earnest. She must forget herself and her lackeys and remember this country and its people. Only then can there be a truly happy. Diwali in this country. Till then it is darkness at noon.

November 4, 1972