Prime Minister Indira Gandhi has said that the country’s difficulties could be overcome only through solid work done by the largest number of people with a sense of national dedication. India was not a poor country but a country of poor people, she observed, in the course of a Press interview [in New Delhi, Dec. 31]. She said: “The people can be rescued from poverty only through hard work not by any single person setting himself up as a guide and dictator.” “I cannot imagine my ever becoming a dictator. All my fight is for democratic functioning. Dictatorship is not necessary to fight poverty. Nor does dictatorship give people strength,” she added. The basic morality in a democracy, Mrs. Gandhi said, was the service of the people. “Whoever thinks that his own view is superior to the people’s view lacks this basic morality.” She said as the Prime Minister of the world’s largest democracy, she recognised everybody’s full right to freedom of expression. “But I hope that freedom of expression will be accompanied by a sense of responsibility.”
