VICEROY SUMS UP INDIAN SITUATION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 262, 6 November 1939, Page 8

VICEROY SUMS UP INDIAN SITUATION.

ATTITUDE TO WAR. Independence, Not Dominion Status, Wanted. GULF BETWEEN TWO PARTIES. Ilritisli (HM.-iii! Wlrrirsx. ( K"<-cl /til "1 ji.in.) IU'CIIY. N<•\ on i h«* r The iocroy of [n<lin, the Marquess dl' Linlithgow, i.-r- iit-il to the Press lh« following slfilcinciil "Tlio discussions wliicli have been Inking I>l a«:«» between representative.-. of Congress niul thr Moslem League have nut ended in agreement. No diii' can regret more than 1 iln that thi> should In; the ea-e, and I think it only |>ro|)cr, as the issue-* involved arc so important to rccall the history of the pil-t leu weeks. "Win- was declared on September 't. la a broadcast tln-1 night 1 appealed to all |mirtii'N itll<( sections. in India to co-operate in its prosecution. On t lit; tho following day 1 saw Mr. Gandhi ill Simla, and discussed the whole jn>hitii>n freely with liiin. 1 nlso look immediate steps to see Mohammed Ali .liniiah as representing the Moslem League. Nor did 1 fail to see the Chancellor of the Chamber of Princes. "The general (|iiestion of war then riuno up for consideration heforu the Congress working committee and the working committee of the -Moslem League. The Congress committee met on September !•">. It condemned Nazi aggression in decisive terms, but postponed a. Until decision to allow for full elucidation of the issues at stake, the real objectives aimed ut and the position of India in the present and in the future. Jt invited Britain to declare in unequivocal terms what were her war aims and how those aims would apply to India and would bo given effect. "Mr. Gandhi, expressing his full agreement with the working committee's statement, remarked # that he had been sorry to find himself alone in seeking that whatever sup(>ort was. to be given the British, it should lie given unconditionally. Viceroy's Many Parleys. "The working committee of the Moslem League asked on September IS: —"If the full, effective and honourable co-opera-tion of tho Musselman is desired' that 'a, sense of security and satisfaction' should be created among Moslems. It referred in particular to the position of Meslem«* in Congress provinces, und to tho necessity for consulting Moslems fully regarding any change in the existing Constitution and for securing their consent and. approval. "Several tkies I got into touch with Gandhi, and the Chancellor of the Chamber of Princes. I decided that, given that a great divergence of view existed between the two major political parties in British India, I must satisfy myself as to the trend of feeling in the country. I interviewed over 50 people representing all parties, communities and interests. "While those conversations were proceeding, the All-India Congress Committee, on October 10, passed a resolution repeating the demand of the working committee for a statement by the British Government of its war and peace aims. They also demanded that India should be declared an ilide|NMideiit nation, ami that immediate' application of this status should be given to tho largest possible extent. "I reported my conversations in detail to the British Government which, at a timo of overwhelming presume, has been devoting tho closest attention to the problem of India. It was in the light of profound consideration and long discussion that, on October 18, I nmde a declaration on behalf of tho British Government. For Dominion Status. **Pli»t declaration emphasised, first, that Dominion status remained the goal l'or India; secondly, that tho British Government was pruparcd to reconsider tho aohemo of the present Act at the » end of the war in consultation with the leaders of opinion in India; thirdly, that the British Government attached importance to associating public opinion in India with the prosecution of t'he war and that it contemplated the formation of a oonsifltative group, details of which •were to be settled after I had further consulted with party leaden*. "The announcements in my statement are of great importance. Their value has been (belittled, but they represent ■points of Teal substance. The debates in Parliament which followed on Uie publication of my statement brought out another important point—-the readiness of tho British Government, if certain conditions were secured, to associate Indian opinion in a still closer and more reapmt'sihble manner with tho conduct of the war by a temporary ex.pannion of tho Governor-GeneralVi Executive Council. "The reception by British India l»oth of the declaration and of the subsequent debates in Parliament wiw, ns far aa Congress wns concerned, definitely hostile. 'Hie Congress working committee on October 22 passed a resolution to the effect that iiny declaration wn.s entirely unsatisfactory ami called on Congress Ministries in tho provinces to resign. j Moslems' Provisional Aid. "The Moslem League on tho same day asked that certain doubts should b'v removed and compflcte clarification of m y declaration secured, subject to which bhey empowered their president, if he wore satisfied, to give an assurance of co-opcration and support. "I next discussed with Gandhi, Dr. Rajondra Prasad and Jinnah the whole position. I had already in my previous conversations discussed the possibility nf expansion of the fiovernor-fieneral's Council. I now told them that if in rcgard to association ut. the centre we hud been unable to go further than in a consultative group, it was because of luck of prior agreement between the major communities such as would contribute to harmonious working in the centre. "I added that the manifestoes issued on October 22 by the Congress working committee and the Moslem League had shown only too clearly that a gulf exis led between these two great parties."