Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – August 11, 1982

Early in the morning, the newspapers were brought. On the front page, they had published our photos and statements from the airport and the Parliament office, and one of them had also included a statement from opponents of the Islamic Republic against us. All the members of the delegation gathered. Introductions were made and arrangements were made. At ten in the morning, we went to the parliament and toured the parliamentary building – which has remained as it was since the British sixty years ago. At eleven, we attended the National Assembly and at half past eleven, the Senate. The representatives and the presiding officers of the parliament honoured the Iranian delegation and applauded in respect.

At twelve o'clock, we met with Mrs [Indira] Gandhi and held talks for an hour and fifteen minutes. I explained the situation in Iran, the revolution and Iran's viewpoints, while she mostly spoke off the record and was implicitly justifying her trip to America.

I had lunch in my room and after resting and praying, we went back to the parliament. It was a meeting with a number of members from both houses, and after the pleasantries and my speech, the Indian representatives asked questions about our revolution and its export, fundamentalism, freedom of the press, the economy, and so on. I gave my explanations, and at the end, criticism was levelled at the presence of British influences – including the English language – in India.

We then met with the Vice President and President of the Senate. Heydarullah Khan is a Muslim. The meeting was warm and friendly, and he knew a little Persian. I spoke about the imprisoned students – nine of whom are in prison for a dispute with the Mojahedin – and we had dinner as guests of the Speaker, Dr Balram Jakhar. It was a good meeting and during the discussion, whilst touching on the two countries' commonalities, I spoke about the necessity of fighting discrimination in global relations, particularly the veto in the United Nations, the belligerence of America and Israel, and the need for foreign military forces to withdraw from the Indian Ocean. Later in the evening at the guesthouse, we received the news from Iran. The Kuwaiti parliament's approval of a motion to cut oil supplies to America is one of the world's major news stories.