LORD SIMON’S WARNING

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 25061, 18 December 1946, Page 7

LORD SIMON’S WARNING

DANGERS OF CIVIL WAR

RELIANCE ON HINDU MAJORITY

LONDON, December 18, “The attempt to establish a Government in India, not by co-operation, but by reliance on a Hindu majority, threatens India with civil war, anarchy, and bloodshed on an unlimited scale,” said Lord Simon durirtfe the debate in the H®use of Lords on India. Opening the debate, Lord Simon affirmed that the Constitution of India, established by Parliament, could be changed only by Parliament He rer butted suggestions that any action by Britain had caused strife in India. Britain had the most difficult task in statesmanship to reconcile the Moslem and Hindu differences. Lord Simon asked could Britain really regard what was going on at New Delhi at the present time as a Constituent Assembly? The Government must make itself plain on this point. Pandit Nehru had claimed that the meeting was a Constituent Assembly capable of drawing up a constitution which would become the constitution of India. This threatened India with Hindu rule. Lord Simon here gave his warning of the danger of Civil war. He emphasised that he had measured his words carefully before speaking. The Secretary of State for India (Lord Pethick-Lawrence), replying to Lord Simon, said: “Qur intentions stand that the Indians should have the rig.it to decide their own future. Our conviction stands that only under agreement can a stable constitution be decided and our intentions remain to do all in our power to bring the parties together. The Government also stands by its interpretation of the statement of May 16, 1946, and it will not depart from that, even if the Federal Court is appealed to. “Under the Cabßiet Mission’s proposals, the Constituent Assembly cannot frame a constitution which departs from the basic form recommended by the mission unless it is agreed upon with the approval of representatives of each major party. Provision has been made in a later paragraph for such a variation.”