INDIA DEADLOCK

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 158, 1 April 1937, Page 11

INDIA DEADLOCK

Gandhi Stiffening In Opposition THREAT OF BOYCOTT Alienation of Native Loyalty Claimed FEDERATION NOT WANTED By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. (Received March 31, 7.25 p.m.) London. March 31. The Allahabad correspondent of the “Daily Herald” reports that Mahatma Gandiii is stiffening in his attitude toward the new India Constitution, and is considering a revival of civil disobedience and the boycott of British goods if the deadlock continues. It is believed that the Indian National Congress now aims at obstructing the introduction of the federation. Saying that he was the originator of the idea of attaching a condition to the acceptance of office by Congress candidates, Gandhi further claimed that the Congress formula could have been accepted by the Governors, since it only meant that they should not exercise their special powers of interference as long as Ministers acted within the Constitution. No immediate action is contemplated by the British Government following Gandhi's statement. On the other hand, the Government will allow a short interval for all sides to review and reconsider the situation.

It is pointed out, in connection with Gandhi’s assertion that the Congress formula could have been accepted, that if the Governors disregarded their responsibilities they would be acting illegally. “Government Has Blundered.” The New Delhi correspondent of “The Tinies” reports that Ministries have been formed in Madras, Orisha, and Central Provinces. It is expected that the remaining three will be completed by April 1, when the new Constitution will be inaugurated. V. S. Srinivasa Sastri, President of the Servants of India Society, who refused to attempt to form a Government in Madras, asserts that the British Government has blundered disastrously in India. The perverseness of its policy will only be measurable when the next world war shows the extent to which Indian loyalty has been alienated.

The workin" committee of the National Congress Party decided recently on acceptance of office on condition that assurances were given that the special powers of the Governors would not be used. Congress subsequently authorised elected Congressmen to nccept office in the new Provincial Legislatures. UNREST ON FRONTIER Numbers Killed in Attack by Tribesmen (Received March 31, 7.25 p.m.) London, March 31. A message from New Delhi states that 300 tribesmen attacked units of the First Abbottabad Brigade while they were protecting portions of the Mirali-Razmak road, south-west of Damdil, to allow the passage of a convoy.

The attack resulted iu two British officers being killed and one wounded, one British soldier being killed and 38 wounded, two Indian officers being killed and one wounded, and 19 Indian soldiers being killed.

Details of the tribesmen’s casualties are not available, but it is believed they were considerable.

The New Delhi correspondent of the “Daily Mail” attributes the tight at Darndil to unrest in Waziristan, due to religious fanaticism in which the Fakir of Ipi, claiming to be the champion of Islam, was prominent, although he only yesterday was negotiating for a truce with the delegates of the local jirga (council of headmen). The jirga last week swore allegiance after an address by Major Johnston, Assistant Resident in Waziristan.

The fight lasted throughout the day. British artillery and aircraft assisted in covering the convoy.

The Delhi correspondent of “The Tinies.” London, reported on March 38 that the- of Ipi was actively fostering an anti-Governnient campaign and endeavouring to assemble the tribes for a holy war. From his sick bed, which was being carried among the tribes, he was inciting them to acts of hostility. There was no sign that he was receiving any assist; -ce from the tribes on the Afghanistan side of the border, although he was endeavouring to get it. GROUPINGS IN INDIA According to the census of 1921 there were in India nearly 217,000,000 Hindus, over 11,500,000 mostly in Burma, 3,250,000 Silflis, nearly 102)00,000 adherents of tribal religious, over 1,000,000 Jains, 4,750,000 Christians, and. 68,750,000 Moslems, bebesides small numbers professing other creeds. The Indian National Congress is primarily a Hindu organisation, though it claims to recognise the Sikhs, the Jains, and the tribal religions as well. It does not effectively represent the Moslems, who possess separate all-In-organisations of their own for both religious and political purposes. Politically the All-India Moslem League has been hitherto the outstanding body, working sometimes in close alliance with the Congress and sometimes in dispute with it. The Moslems, as the most important racial and religious “minority,” scattered to some extent all over the country, but chiefly concentrated in Bengal, the Punjab, and Kashmir, in all of which places they outnumber the Hindus, are determined to secure adequate representation in any Indian representative system that may be established, and sometimes inclined to side with the British against the Hindus with the object of getting recognition of their claims.