The Soviet Courtship of Indian Leaders

In the tumultuous period following Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's death in May 1964, India's political future hung in the balance. As the nation grappled with the uncertainty of succession, a silent yet decisive force from Moscow sought to influence the course of Indian politics. The KGB, driven by its strategic interests, maneuvered subtly yet effectively to shape the leadership of independent India. From the quiet promotion of Gulzarilal Nanda to the unexpected rise of Lal Bahadur Shastri and eventually the selection of Indira Gandhi as Prime Minister, the Soviet Union played a pivotal role in steering India away from potential right-wing leadership under Morarji Desai. This article delves into the shadowy corridors of power, unraveling how the KGB's machinations and the personal allure of Soviet hospitality left an indelible mark on the Indian political elite during a critical juncture in the nation's history.

Following Menon's political eclipse, Moscow's preferred candidate to succeed Nehru after his death in May 1964 was Gulzarilal Nanda, Home minister and number two in the cabinet. The Delhi residency was ordered to do all it could to further his candidature but to switch support to Lal Bahadur Shastri, also a close associate of Nehru, if Nanda's campaign failed. There is no indication in the files noted by Mitrokhin that the KGB was in contact with either Nanda or Shastri. Moscow's main reason for supporting them was, almost certainly, negative rather than positive - to prevent the right wing Hindu traditionalist Morarji Desai, who began each day by drinking a glass of his own urine (a practice extolled in ancient Indian medical treatises), from succeeding Nehru. In the event, after Desai had been persuaded to withdraw reluctantly from the contest, Shastri became Prime Minister with the unanimous backing of Congress. Following Shastri's sudden death in January 1966, the cahal of Congress leaders (the 'Syndicate') chose Nehru's daughter, Indira Gandhi (codenamed VANO by the KGB), as his successor in the mistaken belief that she would prove a popular figurehead whom they could manipulate at will.

The KGB's first prolonged contact with Indira Gandhi had occurred during her first visit to the Soviet Union a few months after Stalin's death in 1953. As well as keeping her under continuous surveillance, the Second Chief Directorate also surrounded her with handsome, attentive male admirers. Unaware of the orchestration of her welcome by the KGB, Indira was overwhelmed by the attentions lavished on her. Though she did not mention the male admirers in letters to her father, she wrote to him, 'Everybody-the Russians- have been so sweeet to me... I am being treated like everybody's only daughter- I shall be horribly spoilt by the time I leave. Nobody has ever been so nice to me.' Indira wrote of a holiday arranged for her on the Black Sea, ' I don't think i have had such a holiday for years'. Later in Leningrad, she told Nehru that she was 'wallowing in luxury'. Two years later Indira accompanied her father on his first official visit to the Soviet Union. Like Nehru, she was visibly impressed by the apparent successes of Soviet planning and economic modernization exhibited to them in carefully stage-managed visit to Russian factories. During her trip, Khrushchev presented her with a mink coat which became one of the favourite items in her wardrobe- despite the fact that a few years earlier she had criticized the female Indian ambassador in Moscow for accepting a similar gift.