CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

Evening Star, Issue 20585, 10 September 1930, Page 9

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

CAMPAIGN IN INDIA UNOFFICIAL PEACE EFFORTS FAIL (British Official Wireless.) Pros* Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. RUGBY, September 9. (Received September 10, at noon.) Reference to the failure of unofficial efforts by the moderate Hindus —Sir Tej Bahadur, Sapru, and Mr Jayakar —to persuade the Congress leaders to call off the civil disobedience movement, is made in the Government of India’s summary of the Indian situation. The failure is ascribed to the unreasonable and impracticable nature of Congress leaders’ demands. The summary says:—“Apart from prejudicing certain issues of first rate constitutional importance, these demands most closely affect the financial interests of local governments, and represent an attempt to impose the views of one party without reference to the opinions of others, and to practical constitutional and financial considerations. In the third aspect they involve recognition by the Government of the action on the restraint of trade and the continuance of several main activities of the civil dis*obedience movements under official sanction. The proposals, as a whole, are so far removed fi'om practical politics as to suggest that they have noen put forward deliberately for propaganda purposes. “ An intimation has been conveyed to those responsible for them that a discussion on the basis of these demands is impossible. At the outset the attitude of the Government was made clear. Subject to the essential condition that the civil disobedience movement would be definitely abandoned, the Government was prepared firstly to withdraw those methods rendered necessary by the movement, secondly to move local Governments sympathetically to review the sentence of imprisonment passed on persons convicted of non-violent offences directly connected with the civil disobedience movement, and thirdly to secure further fair and adequate representation at the round table conference so that they could have full facilities for pursuing a constitutional course. “The breakdown of the conversations may give a light and temporary impetus to the civil disobedience movement. On the other hand the conversations have been unscrupulously used in many parts of India as evidence that the Government was anxious for a settlement on any terms, and have been employed to encourage volunteers to defy the law on the assurance that the prisoners would be very shortly released.

“ This opportunity for organised misrepresentation is now removed. It may also be expected that moderate opinion will recognise that while the Government was tight to afford all facilities to public spirited persons for the pursuance of any efforts they might make in the cause of peace, tho responsibility for tho breakdown or the conversations must be attributed to the extravagant and impracticable attitude of the Congress.”