Opinion October 23, 1985, Forty Years Ago: UN at 40

This is the front page of The Indian Express published on October 23, 1985.

October 23, 2025 09:08 AM IST First published on: Oct 23, 2025 at 09:08 AM IST

The Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, arrived in New York for the United Nations’ 40th anniversary, bringing with him India’s promise to help strengthen its hand in working for a better world. He will meet with presidents Ronald Reagan and Ziaul Haq and PM Premadasa and Zhao Ziyang. Reagan’s aides say that the US leader’s separate talks with Gandhi and Zia will be his only meetings with leaders, save for those with leaders of some major industrialised democracies.

Rajiv-Castro Talks

The Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, had wide-ranging talks with the President of Cuba, Fidel Castro, on matters relating to the Non-Aligned Movement and bilateral issues. Gandhi met with the Cuban leader over lunch and later had official talks. Gandhi, who arrived in Havana from the Bahamas, apprised Castro of the decisions taken at the Commonwealth Summit in South Africa.

Arms Race

The Commonwealth leaders urged President Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev to achieve their declared objective of preventing an arms race in space and terminating it on Earth. The leaders welcomed the superpowers’ summit in Geneva scheduled for next month and stressed the importance of a “constructive and positive outcome”.

Gurdwara blast

A mysterious explosion, which occurred near a gurdwara at the Vivekananda Housing Colony on the outskirts of Ghaziabad town, has left the district police wondering what the possible motive of the miscreants could be. No one was injured in the explosion, which shattered the window panes of the gurdwara and caused the walls of the nearest houses to develop cracks.