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Mrs. Gandhi went on, not very convincingly, to give the reason for her objection to the U.S. Naval base in Diego Garcia, ("The Indian Ocean is around India. That is why it is so called" The Indian Ocean is also "around" Africa and Asia); and to suggest that her imprisonment of the opposition is akin to our imprisonment of terrorists, ho hum. But then the lady scores. To put it indelicately, she knees Uncle Sam and the pain is quite awful. "But we are astonished that American newspapers should lecture us on democracy while showing all friendship earlier to Ayub Khan's military dictatorship in Pakistan and now Communist China -- to give only two examples." That was devastating enough, though sophistical in part. Inevitably, it is sadder when a democracy turns to authoritarianism, than when an authoritarian regime routinely renews its franchise. The United States did permit itself a long interval of mourning when Mao Tse-tung took over China. But Mrs. Gandhi has sharpened her formulation, and by mid-August, talking to her followers in the garden of her house, she picked up the theme again. "Today [Americans] had the cheek to come and say that: you are destroying democracy. We are not interested in what these countries say. We are interested if they are fair in their judgments, if they stick by what they say. If they believe in democracy and that other countries should be democratic, let them speak up against every authoritative regime in the world. But do we hear any talk today, while there is a euphoria in the west about China? Is there any form of democracy in China? But nobody has a word to say. They are falling over backwards to get invitations to go to China." The lady's point is truly unanswerable. Worse, that which such Americans as James Reston, Barbara Tuchman, and John Kenneth Galbraith have so greatly admired in China would in fact never have been achieved except for the rejection of democracy -- to wit, the construction of Mao Man. Mrs. Gandhi finished her remarks cynically. "Today, those who are criticizing us, if the country was to be weakened, they would say: Oh, well, we always said that democracy wouldn't work in a country like India. And that's all. It would finish them. They would not be more concerned." She is right. -END- WASHINGTON STAR SYNDICATE INC. 444 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022