Dec 06, 2024 01:08 PM IST
A new book recalls Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro famously bear-hugging Indira Gandhi at the 1983 NAM Summit in New Delhi.
The defining image of the 1983 summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which took place in India, was Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro’s bear-hug for then prime minister Indira Gandhi.
Castro gave Indira Gandhi a bear hug after he handed over the chairman’s gavel to her. A surprised Gandhi quickly moved away for some seconds. However, the moment was met a loud applause from the audience.
Author and journalist Ullekh NP has written about this famous incident in his latest book, “Mad about Cuba”, and recalled his thoughts as a boy when he read about it in the newspaper while growing up in Kerala.
“At a time when Indian women, especially those in positions of power, were not photographed hugging men, certainly not those unrelated to them, the incident at Delhi’s Vigyan Bhavan created a stir and sensation—and left Mrs Gandhi blushing,” the author writes.
“A dashing man with a beard and film-star looks, and more than that, charisma—for us kids, his photographs in dailies left a lasting impression.”
The author also touched upon the anecdote revealed by late Congress leader Natwar Singh, a close associate of Gandhi, in his book about Castro introducing her to literary icon Gabriel Garcia Marquez at the 1983 summit in Delhi.
The meeting was an unusual one, of a political leader and a revolutionary Colombian writer from vastly different worlds, yet both wielding a strong influence over millions.
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