ASIAN POLITICS

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27193, 10 November 1953, Page 12

ASIAN POLITICS

IMPORTANT ROLE OF INDIA YOUNG DEMOCRACY ON TRIAL “If India goes Communist the whole of Asia " will; if she stands for democracy, the whole of Asia will be saved from Communism. She is the big nation because of her greatness and her committal to democracy—for no other nation in Asia has been trained to democracy.” This commept was made by the Rev. B. N. Eade, a Baptist missionary on in an address last evening to the annual assembly of the Baptist Union of New Zealand.

“Can India, in the vital years ahead before elections, so raise the standard of living as to make the people want to retain democracy? I believe * she can—with the help of. America and the Colombo Plan.”

Ten years ago missionary societies had been pessimistic about the future of their Indian missions; today the “anti-mission” feeling was disappear-

The Japanese had swept through Asia, “liberating”, pteoples from the white people ancL deceiving them with the cry of “Asia for the Asians.” Revolutionary ideas were let loose and had their effect even in the marketplaces.

The innocent villager was confronted with demands on his allegiance—a situation in which he had never been placed before, said Mr Eade. The Indians had seen the victory of Communism in neighbouring China. They had watched with interest the extraordinary situation which arose at the end of the war—when the British troops, arriving to hand over Indonesia to the Dutch, had found that the Japanese had handed the country over to the Indonesians. Such stresses as these had been working on the Asian mind in the last 10 years. “Asia is in a state of flux,” he said. Cause of Unrest The desire to dispel ignorance, poverty and backwardness was behind

much of the unrest. “I bring you testimony that the Church of Jesus Christ has been growing amidst all this change,” said Mr Eade.

There had been a revival of Hinduism and Mohammedanism in India and Pakistan since these countries had been granted national status. This was an emotional outburst, merely a gesture. The Indian constitution had banned “untouchability.” “What was the inspiration for that—Hinduism or Christianity?” India, under Nehru, had assumed a role of mediator in international disputes. There were other indications that India would take a leading part among Asian countries in world affairs. Needs of Pakistan “Pakistan still needs the Gospel and it tremendously.” Miss Mary Bradfield, who has spent 35 years in India, told the assembly. It had been said that to try to convert a Pakistani was to ask the hardest man in the world to accept the thing he did not want from the man he hated. This was no reason for shirking responsibilities in this field—indeed, it would be a denial of Christian principles to do so.