Indira Gandhi went to the Soviet Union on a state visit as Prime Minister in 1976.
At that time, India's ambassador to Soviet Union was Inder Kumar Gujral.
The Prime Minister of Soviet Union or a minister of that rank did not receive her at the airport as per protocol.
Seeing that there was no one to welcome her in Soviet Union , Indira Gandhi asked Gujral to take the car to the Indian Embassy.
She interacted with the Indian community esp. the children.
The Kremlin Palace of Moscow was fixed and decorated by Soviet Government for Indiraji. The Soviet Prime Minister on coming to know that a mistake had been committed went to the Indian Embassy instead respectfully took her to the from the Indian Embassy.
The Prime Minister of the Soviet Union apologized to Indira Gandhi. Indira ji told him that "I am not personally angry or angry at all because of your mistake. But as a Prime Minister, while representing 600 million Indians, I have a responsibility to maintain the dignity of my country and the people there, so I took this step ".
I was witness to a similar event in Tripoli, Libya in 1984. The Libyan leader did not go to the airport because the relations with India were strained at the time.
Indira Gandhi kept the plane airborne. The Libyan leader was forced to personally drive to the airport to receive her. He drove her back in his car.
She was a strong and amiable Leader.
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