Laos, the newest coup country, is certainly unorthodox in its approach to old problems. It is said that leaders of the new Government had a two-hour discussion with wives of leaders of the Pathet Lao troops which still hold part of the kingdom. This is politics with enterprise in it. The unimaginative news agency report does not tell us what was the outcome of this historic meeting, but we may safely await the complete solution of the Pathet Lao problem in Laos any day now.
If the wives had their way, however, it is more likely that they will win over the new Government to their husbands’ way of thinking instead of the other way about. Perhaps that was the reason why the tough guerrilla husbands permitted their wives the status of negotiators in the first place. What Laos has done, cannot India do better? It is a tantalising question.
The Bengal-Assam rift may come to a happy end if the husbands retire for a long padayatra and the wives take over the reins of administration. In a state like Mysore the problem is less difficult because there all the wives involved are good Congress wives and the rift itself is a family rift within the Congress framework.
By following up the Laos tip, we will soon develop here a society where the husbands will be the figure heads—the front, so to speak – while the real work will be carried on behind the scenes by hardworking wives. But then, is not that the ultimate aim of all societies?
(EDIT, September 3, 1960.)
