Congress senior leader Jairam Ramesh traces the genesis of the Indo-France relationship to former PM Indira Gandhi. He writes, "It was the 25th of March 1966, just two months after she had taken over as PM. She met President De Gaulle in Paris who later confided to his confidant Andre Malraux, "women do not succeed in politics, but this one will" --  a commonly held belief those days. That she conducted the conversation fully in French must have left a lasting impression on the President. From this visit began France's long association with our strategic programmes, especially in space and defence."