ASSASSINATION IN LONDON

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 147, 16 March 1940, Page 10

ASSASSINATION IN LONDON

The assassination of Sir Michael O’Dwyer, formerly LieutenantGovernor of the Punjab, by an Indian gunman, who also wounded the Marquis of Zetland, Secretary of State for India, Sir Louis Dane, a former Chief Secretary to the Punjab, and Lord Lamington, sometime Governor of Bombay, is a shocking outrage. Occurring in a period of political tension in India, the attack at first was naturally assumed to have been directly inspired by disaffected elements, and possibly not unconnected also with long-harboured resentment over the Amritsar riots of 1919, during the late Sir Michael O’Dwyer’s term of office, when the mob was fired on by the troops. There is no evidence, however, to justify any other conclusion than that this outrage was the act of an irresponsible, and had no political implications. From India have come expressions of horror and condemnation by Mr. Gandhi and the native Press at the occurrence. Native India at present is deeply interested in the prosecution of the Congress movement for accelerating the consummation of its aspiration for complete Dominion status, and must realize that any suspicion of resort to violence, direct or indirect, would be a grave disservice to its cause. For the advancement of this, British goodwill is essential, and that would be lost if the campaign of violence carried on by Indian terrorists in the past, and which did so much to retard progress toward self-government, were to be revived.