NEW GOVERNMENT

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 66, Issue 269, 26 August 1946, Page 3

NEW GOVERNMENT

CHANGE IN INDIA

RIOTING FOLLOWS ANNOUNCEMENT

(N.Z. Press Association —Copyright.) NEW DELHI, August 25. His Majesty has accepted the resignation of the caretaker Government, and has appointed a new Government headed by Pandit Nehru (president of the Indian Congress). Two more Moslem members will be appointed later. The announcement' of the new Government wholly confirms the list previously advised as follows: Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Congress President; Mr Vallabhai Patel, chairman of the Congress Parliamentary Committee; Mr C. Rajagopalachari, Leader of the Congress Party in the Legislature; Mr Sarat Chanora Bose, leader of the left-wing group of Congress and leader of the “Indian Independence League”; Mr Jagjivan Ram, of the Scheduled Castes; and Dr. R. Prasad. Sir Shafat Ahmed Khan, a nonleague Moslem member of the new Government, was stabbed seven times while walking last night, states a Simla message. The attackers, two young men, escaped.

Sir Shafat was admitted to hospital unconscious.

He was later reported to be out of danger. He was stabbed in the neck and chest. The Government will take the oath on September 2.

When the appointment of the new Government was announced, rioting broke out in the old city in a fight between groups armed with sticks and knives. A six-hour curfew was ordered and public assemblies banned.

Constitutional Position Unchanged

More stabbings occurred this morning, although the city was quieter after the night’s clashes. The Viceroy, Lord Wavell, in a broadcast over the New Delhi radio, urged the Moslem League to reconsider its decision not to participate in Pandit Nehru’s new interim governmene. He said Pandit Nehru and his colleagues were anxious that both the main parties shoud be represented . “The war member of the new Government will be Indian,” said the Viceroy, “but this in no way changes the constitutional position of the armed forces, which still owe allegiance to the King and Emperor and to the British Parliament.” Lord Wavell said the recent serious disturbances in Calcutta were a sobering reminder that a greater measure of tolerance was essential if India was to survive the transition to- freedom. He emphasised that the army was called iir only as a last resort to check civil disturbances. “I express admiration for the restraint of the troops in the execution of an unpleasant and exacting duty,” he added. Reuter’s New Delhi correspondent reports that Lord Wavell will fly to Calcutta to-morrow to study at first hand- the situation in connection with the rioting there.

In Allahabad on Friday crowds of Hindus and Moslems armed with brickbats, knives, and lathis, engaged in pitched battles. The Allahabad Magistrate said that three persons had died from bullet injuries, and seven had been treated for gunshot wounds. Several cases of attempted incendiarism occurred. The police are guarding strategic points. The riot began at the conclusion of a prayer meeting, when opposing crowds of Hindus and Moslems threw A 24-liour curfew has been im posed. Calcutta Deaths Total 2020 It is officially stated that fatalities as a result of the' Calcutta riots so far total 2020, including 717 removed for burial from the hospitals and streets, 803 taken from burning buildings, and 500 removed by the military from the streets. The police are still collecting dead from houses in the riot areas, the total of whom- is not yet known. The injured in hospital or discharged from hospitals total 4291. A Government spokesman added that the situation in Calcutta had greatly improved, but it was still far from normal. Ninety thousand had so far left through the Howrah station, but confidence was returning.