Ahead of the 50th anniversary of the 1975 Black Emergency day, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey launched a scathing attack on the Congress party and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, alleging that the nation was on the verge of becoming a “slave to America” during her tenure.
The Godda MP posted excerpts of what he claimed were declassified confidential diplomatic conversations between then US President Richard Nixon and US Ambassador to India, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, dated February 8, 1973.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Dubey wrote: “Did Iron Lady Indira Gandhi almost sell India?”
आयरन लेडी इंदिरा जी ने भारत को लगभग बेच दिया था?
1.यह बातचीत अमेरिका के तत्कालीन राष्ट्रपति निक्सन और भारत में अमेरिकी राजदूत मोनीहान के बीच का गोपनीय काग़ज़ 8 फ़रवरी 1973 का है
2.इस बातचीत के अनुसार भारत ने अमेरिका से इतना क़र्ज़ ले रखा था कि 2040 तक भारत अमेरिका का ग़ुलाम हो… pic.twitter.com/0LTt5N5xoQ— Dr Nishikant Dubey (@nishikant_dubey) June 24, 2025
“According to a confidential conversation between Nixon and Moynihan, India had taken so many loans from America that by 2040, India would have become a slave of America. In fact, the US wasn’t even keen to ‘own’ India,” Dubey remarked. “Congress is a party born out of colonial servitude. It is Modi ji who now speaks with America on equal footing. Today, India stands as the world’s fourth-largest economy.”
Shocking allegations from a historical conversation
The attached transcript revealed a conversation between Nixon and Moynihan during which the two discussed India’s dependency on American aid, particularly in the form of wheat shipments and financial credits. A particularly startling exchange features Moynihan stating:
“We have a billion dollars worth of rupees over there… this is a billion dollars and maturation in the year 2010 is 5 billion dollars. At the rate it’s going, by the year 2040, we own India.”
To which Nixon replied in disbelief: “Wow! Who wants to own India? God forbid!”
The sarcastic tone of the exchange, while highlighting US reluctance to deepen ties with India, also underlines the severity of India’s economic crisis at the time. Moynihan suggests that US financial interests held such sway over Indian currency that it amounted to virtual ownership.
“Heading for Starvation Again”
In the discussion, Ambassador Moynihan also made grim references to India’s food insecurity. He claimed India was once again at risk of starvation due to its fragile economy and dependence on wheat imports.
“They’re heading for starvation again… They may have to spend another third of their foreign exchange before June… They’re simply that broke. And there’s only one place in the world to buy wheat and that’s here [in the US],” said Moynihan.
He added that the wheat aid India received could have otherwise been sold to China or Russia, further underscoring India’s weak bargaining position.
A strategic perspective on American aid
Moynihan proposed a phased withdrawal of American aid, indicating India’s expressed desire to eliminate foreign aid by 1979. Yet he doubted India’s ability to do so without again turning to the US for help.
“Let them… come to us and say, ‘Look, we can’t.’”
He further mocked India’s aspirations of aid independence, highlighting the dependence on American wheat and the collapse of its foreign exchange reserves.
In another striking passage, Moynihan discussed the “gentleman’s agreement” the US might broker with the USSR to not monopolise the wheat market, thereby leaving some supplies for India.
BJP’s broader message ahead of Congress imposed Emergency anniversary
Dubey’s post is part of the BJP’s ongoing effort to call out the Emergency not just as a political crackdown, but as a period marked by weak foreign policy and economic subjugation. The Emergency, declared by Indira Gandhi on June 25, 1975, is widely condemned by the BJP and civil liberty advocates as a “dark chapter” in India’s democratic history.
“This is the same Congress that bowed before foreign powers. It is Prime Minister Narendra Modi who meets world leaders as an equal, not as a beggar for aid,” said a senior BJP leader, echoing Dubey’s sentiment.
Congress yet to respond
At the time of filing this report, the Congress party had not issued an official statement on the transcript’s authenticity or the allegations raised by Dubey.
The reference to PLA-80 in the transcript pertains to Public Law 480 (the “Food for Peace” program), through which the US provided food grain to India and other developing nations. Under this law, aid-receiving countries often accumulated a large volume of local currency obligations to the US Treasury, which later became politically and economically controversial.
As Dubey’s post resurfaces this forgotten diplomatic detail, it adds fuel to the fire of contemporary debates around self-reliance, sovereignty, and the legacy of Congress rule.
Past attacks by Dubey
On June 10, 2025, Dubey reignited political tensions by taking a direct swipe at the Gandhi family, accusing them of compromising India’s national interest through decades of flawed foreign and domestic policy. In a sharply worded post on social media platform X, Dubey linked Rahul Gandhi’s current political posture to what he termed as “historical blunders” committed by his grandmother, Indira Gandhi and other Congress leaders.
Drawing on archival reports and diplomatic history, Dubey referenced former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s public support for Pakistan’s nuclear program in the 1990s. He controversially referred to Arafat as Indira Gandhi’s “brother” and questioned why the Congress party had aligned with leaders sympathetic to Pakistan, particularly when India’s own security interests were at stake.
Dubey backed his assertions by citing a United News of India (UNI) report that documented Arafat’s remarks in support of Pakistan’s nuclear tests. During a stopover at Islamabad airport in 1998, Arafat had publicly defended Pakistan’s right to possess nuclear weapons, reportedly stating: “If Israel possesses nuclear weapons, then why cannot Pakistan have the nuclear capability?” He added that Muslim nations stood with Pakistan and were ready to support it against sanctions. Arafat also claimed to have mediated the 1972 Simla Agreement between India and Pakistan, a statement which Dubey used to underscore what he called the Congress’s “outsourcing” of India’s diplomatic agency.
In addition to foreign policy, Dubey revisited allegations of electoral fraud during Congress’s rule, focusing on the 1971 Rae Bareli election and its aftermath. He recalled the Allahabad High Court’s landmark judgment in Smt. Indira Gandhi vs. Raj Narain, which found the then Prime Minister guilty of misusing government machinery during her campaign, ultimately leading to her disqualification and the imposition of Emergency.
He further accused the Congress of engineering widespread booth capturing in the 1980 general elections, particularly in Bihar, citing a Lok Sabha debate where CPI leader Indrajit Gupta described the conduct of polls as “horrible.” Dubey argued that these episodes were not isolated incidents but reflected a systemic pattern of democratic subversion under the Congress.
