TALKS IN NEW DELHI

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25177, 7 May 1947, Page 7

TALKS IN NEW DELHI

GANDHI AND JINNAH TO MEET PROGRESS SURVEYED BY “THE TIMES” (N.Z. Pm. Association—Copyright) (Rec. 12.10 am.) LONDON. May 6. Mr Gandhi and Mr Jinnah will meet this afternoon. Mr Gandhi said yesterday that, if the British meant what they said, their decision to hand over power in India next year was the noblest act in their history, but it would be better if they went now. At present, whenever communal disturbances broke out, both Moslems and Hindus called for the support of British troops. “We may have to pass through the fire.” he said, “but the fire will purity us.” India, he said, had become used to a certain rule, and when that rule was voluntarily removed there might be a time of no rule at all

“The Congress Party - ’ reluctant acceptance of the hypothesis that India may after all. have to be divided into Hindu and Moslem majority areas is a notable concession to political realities,’’ says “The Times” in a leading article, "but it brings its leaders no closer to Mr Jinnah. who stands firmly for a Pakistan which is based upon groups B and C of the British Cabinet mission’s plan (namely, Sind,

the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Baluchistan, Bengal, and Assam) and includes an undivided Punjab and an integral Bengal. "Until there is some sort of agree-ment-oven an agreement to differ amicably—between the leaders on each side, their followers will not easily be induced to forgo rioting and massacre on a scale which makes political planning difficult. Yet it is Elain that there can be no further dely on the British side in arranging the successive steps entailed in the process of transferring power to India, and this week’s discussions between Lord Ismay and the British Cabinet are likely to centre on this problem. “There are various methods of approaching it, and the best is still the Cabinet minion’s plan, since it affords the only means of reconciling administrative unity at the centre with guarantees of an effective political existence for the Moslems. But if this proves impracticable and India's unity cannot be formally maintained, division in one shape or another is the only alternative, and at the moment attention in India is increasingly directed towards partition schemas. “Every such scheme complicates the transference of power from British hands, but Britain cannot choose for India. All she can do is to emphasise the urgency of a decision, to set before the Indian leaders the possibilities that lie before them, and to frame her programme for the devolution of power in accordance with their choice.”