Forty Years Ago, April 8, 1981: Brezhnev On Poland

The Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev appeared to ease pressure on Poland but hinted that military intervention had not been ruled out. In an eagerly awaited speech to the Czechoslovak Communist Party, Brezhnev made only a brief direct reference to the situation in Poland and gave very little hint of Kremlin’s thinking. But in drawing a parallel with the events in Czechoslovakia in 1968, that led to a Warsaw Pact invasion, Brezhnev seemed to suggest that Poland should put its house in order. His only reference to Soviet aid to Poland was in an attack on the West for trying to put pre-conditions on disarmament talks.

Indira’s Advice

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi has said that she agreed with the West Bengal Congress leaders’ stand to continue their agitation against the CPM-led Left Front government’s misrule in the state. Subroto Mukherjee, one of the leaders of the Congress (I)-led agitation in the state, said that the prime minister had emphasised that their movement should be peaceful. She asked them not to be provoked by the police or the CPM cadre and desist from doing anything that would harm common people.

Karnataka Firings

The Opposition, barring the Muslim League and the DMK, walked out of the Lok Sabha on Tuesday following the Speaker’s refusal to allow an adjournment motion on the firing on farmers in Karnataka. The Speaker informed that he had already scheduled a call-in-attention motion on the issue for April 8. The Opposition insisted that nothing short of an adjournment motion would satisfy them.

Film Awards

Mrinal Sen’s Bengali film Aakaler Sandhane (In Search of the Famine) has been adjudged the best film for 1980 by the jury of the National Film Awards. The award for the second best film goes to K S Sethumadhavan’s Malayalam film, Oppol (elder sister).