Wednesday, June 29 2005 12:33 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: Former US President Nixon referred privately to then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as an "old witch" and National Security Adviser (NSA) Henry Kissinger insulted Indians in general, according to transcripts of Oval Office tapes and newly declassified documents.

Nixon and Kissinger met in the Oval Office on the morning of November 5, 1971, to discuss Nixon's conversation with Indira Gandhi the day before. "We really slobbered over the old witch," Nixon told Kissinger, according to a transcript of their conversation released yesterday (Jun 28, 2005) as part of a State Department compilation of significant documents involving American foreign policy.

Nixon's remark came as the two men speculated about Indira's motives during the White House meeting and discussed India's intentions in the looming conflict with Pakistan.

The United States was allied with Pakistan and saw India as too closely allied with the Soviet Union. "The Indians are bastards anyway," Kissinger told the President. "They are starting a war there."

Kissinger also told his boss that he had bested Indira in their meeting. "... We got what we wanted too," Kissinger said. "She will not be able to go home and say that the United States didn't give her a warm reception and therefore in despair she's got to go to war."

Other documents chart US contacts with China, as facilitated by Pakistan, and US concern that India was developing nuclear technology. The archive covers US policy in South Asia in 1971 and 1972.

The documents, many declassified only earlier this month, generally cover old ground, several Cold War scholars said.