[Letter to Jayaprakash Naryan]

Summary

This one-page letter, dated 14 February 1975, is from Minoo Masani to Jayaprakash Narayan. Masani says he is forwarding an extract from a biography of the Prime Minister, identified on the page as Uma Vasudev’s biography, published by Vikas, page 253. The extract attributes to Mrs. Gandhi a position expressed in the early 1950s: that opposition parties should be dispensed with in order to make the country strong, remove poverty, and eradicate illiteracy.

The document is therefore a brief piece of political correspondence whose substance is the circulation of an apparently anti-opposition statement attributed to Indira Gandhi. The page does not explain Masani’s own assessment of the quotation or provide further context about when or where the statement was made.

Key points

• The document is a letter from Minoo Masani to Jayaprakash Narayan dated 14 February 1975.
• Masani forwards an extract from Uma Vasudev’s biography of the Prime Minister.
• The extract is cited as appearing on page 253 of a book published by Vikas.
• The quoted statement is attributed to Mrs. Gandhi in the early 1950s.
• The statement argues that opposition parties should not exist in order to pursue national strength, poverty removal, and literacy.
• The page does not state whether Masani endorses, disputes, or merely documents the quoted position.