RICHARD NIXON called Indira Gandhi, an “old witch” and described Indians in general as “slippery, treacherous people”, according to newly declassified documents and Oval Office tapes.
His National Security Adviser, Henry Kissinger, agreed, saying “the Indians are bastards anyway”, as the two men discussed a visit to Washington by the former Prime Minister in November 1971, as war was looming between her country and Pakistan.
The Nixon Administration saw India as too close to the Soviet Union, and was informally allied with Pakistan at the time.
One transcript comes from the meeting between Nixon and Kissinger in the White House on November 5, 1971, the day after Mrs Gandhi’s visit. “We really slobbered over the old witch,” Nixon told Kissinger. Kissinger replied: “The Indians are bastards anyway. They are starting a war there.”
Kissinger also told Nixon that he had outwitted Mrs Gandhi during their meeting. “While she was a bitch, we got what we wanted too. She will not be able to go home and say that the United States didn’t give her a warm reception and therefore in despair she’s got to go to war.”
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Kissinger told Nixon his view of Indians: “They are the most aggressive goddam people around there.”
Nizon called Indians “slippery, treacherous people”, and added: “The Pakistanis are straightforward and sometimes extremely stupid. The Indians are more devious.”
Mr Kissinger was worried that if Pakistan became independent it would be a ripe field for Communist infiltration.