Vacuum of Leadership

In Jawaharlal Nehru's home state of Uttar Pradesh, the legislative assembly was in turmoil. A member had just reported that a religious ascetic had performed a temple rite to the Hindu goddess of destruction, Durga, in order to take Nehru's life by magic. In New Delhi, a Socialist deputy was hooted down in the Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament) by angry Congress Party members for asking: "Is it democratic for an ailing Prime Minister with a shaky, inaudible voice and trembling feet to reply to questions?" Through the uproar, a waxen, drowsy figure sat hunched over on the front row of the horseshoe-shaped chamber; about the only thing reminiscent of the dynamic Nehru of old was the red rose in his white tunic.

Stung by demands that the ailing Prime Minister resign or name a deputy with authority to act as head of the government, Nehru's official family launched a campaign to show that India's evident leadership vacuum does not really exist. Nehru's daughter and chief political troubleshooter, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, claimed that her father had "fully recovered" from the stroke he suffered Jan. 7 and that, at 74, "he is much better than he was six months before the illness." Health Minister Sushila Nayar (who was Mahatma Gandhi's physician) said that Nehru "is in fact his old self, but has been advised not to go back to his breakneck pace of work."

Nehru's pace is far from what it used to be. On doctors' orders, government business occupies him for four hours a day at most. Visitors are limited to 20 minutes, and friends report that after a few moments his attention seems to wander. To prevent Nehru's blood pressure from rising, physicians have prescribed a heavy dose of tranquilizers, which makes him sleepy.

The struggle over the succession continues. Leftists, led by the discredited Krishna Menon, still hope to boost Daughter Indira into power, but she may well settle for taking over her father's second job as External Affairs Minister. At the moment, a trio of right-leaning moderates are in control: Home Minister G. L. Nanda, Finance Minister T. T. Krishnamachari, and Minister without Portfolio Lai Bahadur Shastri.

Of the three, Shastri, 59, a vegetarian and teetotaler who rose through Congress Party ranks to become one of Nehru's most dependable lieutenants, has the best chance of becoming Deputy Prime Minister. He is an honest, inoffensive politician with the smallest number of political enemies. Nehru will probably cling to the title of Prime Minister, but it was Shastri whom he summoned after his illness with the plea: "Please help me. You will have to carry on my work."

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