Dhiraj Singh

Jimmy Carter's visit to a tiny village in Gurugram during his visit to India as US President in the 1970s led to it being renamed Carterpuri. The name remains even as the world has changed Professor Dhiraj Singh Jimmy Carter, the third US President to visit India, came at a time when Indo-US relations were on the thaw. The days of Indira (Gandhi)-(Richard) Nixon cold war were over. Emergency too was over. A new Janata government was in place with Morarji Desai leading it. The visit in January 1978, thus, was supposed to headline the peacemaking credentials of both Carter and Desai. Though Carter was yet to get the Nobel Peace Prize, and Desai had not yet received either the Bharat Ratna or the Nishan-e-Pakistan (the highest civilian honours of India and Pakistan respectively), both men were known as leaders who brought feuding factions and nations to the table. However, on the agenda of this meeting of out-and-proud peaceniks were two contradictory demands. Carter wanted India to s