BRITAIN AND INDIA

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 23, 27 July 1944, Page 5

BRITAIN AND INDIA

CRIPPS OFFER STILL OPEN

RUGBY, July 25.

. "The Government has not departed in any way from the offer which was made at the time of Sir Stafford Cripps's mission," said the Earl of Munster, Under-Secretary of State for India, replying to a debate on the political situation in India, initiated by Lord Strabolgi in the House of Lords today. The Earl of Munster recalled that in a speech to the Indian combined legislatures last February, the Viceroy reiterated the Government's policy and announced that the Cripps offer •was still open and remained in all ■essentials. The main point as far as the Government was concerned was that Mr. Gandhi ivas still seeking to achieve precisely that claim which wrecked the Cripps mission and put an end to the negotiations in April. 1942, and wasj :no more prepared today than he was then to accept the formation of an interim Government with the Viceroy retaining the existing reserve powers. Mr. Gandhi desired to see an interim Indian Government in full control, with the Viceroy occupying the position of a constitutional monarch. If an agreement was reached between the Congress Party and the Moslem League and an interim Government was set up in the present existing Constitution, there would still be important questions to be resolved, not least of which was the protection of minorities. All these matters must be settled before a final Constitution could be evolved —8.0.W.