New Delhi:
Congress Vice-president
Rahul Gandhi's analogy last week to India as a beehive created much buzz. Critics said they were baffled by the comparison, supporters said the 43-year-old had made a deft illustration of a country brimming with energy and activity.
A less flattering use of the beehive was made by opponents of Mr Gandhi's grandmother, Indira, in the 70s.
A cable from US diplomats in India to their home office in 1973, refers to a conclave of the opposition Congress (0) and says that a leader there said Mrs Gandhi's party was "like a beehive with Mrs Gandhi as queen bee. When she goes the smaller bees will fly away and hive collapse."
(Read entire WikiLeaks cable here)The Congress (Organisation) was a splinter group of Congressmen left over after Mrs Gandhi split the party and took with her a major chunk of leaders.
In 1975, Mrs Gandhi as Prime Minister introduced a state of emergency in India, a period during which democratic processes and civil liberties were subverted and suspended.
WikiLeaks has just released a tranche of new cables dating to the 70s.
One dated 1975 has created a political firestorm by suggesting that Mrs Gandhi's son, Rajiv, who went on to be Prime Minister was "the main negotiator" for a Swedish fighter jet manfucatruer who wanted a deal with the Indian Air Force. The cable says that Swedish diplomats had shared that information, but said it had not been corroborated by US officials. The fighter jet deal was not landed by the Swedish company, Saab-Scania. The contract went to a British firm SEPECAT.