Of all the faults that poison human relationships, surely ingratitude is one of the most detestable. Shakespeare called it a “marble-hearted fiend” and pronounced it worse than “lying, vainness, or babbling drunkenness.”
For 25 years, the United States has generously and annually doled out millions of dollars for India. Our government has bor rowed money, often at a high rate of interest, so we could give India grain when she was hungry, money for industrialization, and even our largest ammunition plant, the St. Louis Ordnance Plant, delivered in time to help India fight a war with Pakistan. Since World War II, we have given India more aid than any other nation in the world.
Well, who was the first to rejoice at the U.S. defeat in South Vietnam? None other than the Socialist government of India. India’s foreign Minister Y. B. Chavan said in New Delhi that last month’s events in Indochina “constitute a gratifying vindication of the consistent policy maintained by us on this question over the years.”
He went on to praise “the heroic struggle waged by the people of Indochina to assert their independence and sovereignty, and their determination to shape their destiny” without external interference.” He wound up his vituperative attack on the United States by accusing us of a “massive campaign of misrepresentation.”
It is high time that we stop being Uncle Sucker for the un grateful Socialists running India. The United Nations reported last month that India would be a food surplus country today “except for rodents, pests, and poor storage.” The rats and other sacred animals eat more grain each year than India imports. The ten million tons of grain lost each year is twice the amount of grain India imported in 1974.
The United Nations further reported that rats, birds, insects, and moisture spoil enough grain in India each year to make up the entire world shortage.
But all is not gloom and doom on the matter of India. Just before Daniel Moynihan switched jobs from Ambassador to India to the United Nations, he said that the day may soon come when countries might refuse U.S. aid because of restrictions imposed by Congress.
In a burst of intemperate name-calling, Moynihan labeled Congress “mean-spirited,” “insane,” and “cowardly” for wanting to put a few restrictions on a low-interest 40-year loan to India. The subsidy for this easy credit is paid by the American taxpayers who cannot themselves get such favorable terms.
“The day can’t be far away when no self-respecting country will take American aid,” Moynihan said in an interview. Mr. Moynihan could perform a service to our country if he would encourage his friends in India to hurry up and refuse any more U.S. aid.
