Grey River Argus TUESDAY, December 8th, 1931. INDIA.

Grey River Argus, 8 December 1931, Page 4

Grey River Argus TUESDAY, December 8th, 1931. INDIA.

Matters elsewhere of either a commercial or political character have in recent months so tended to monopolise public attention that the Indian question, second in importance to none affecting Britain, has been largely ignored. Nothing, however, can long obscure the inconclusive ending of the Round Table Conference, because the consequences are soon destined to become manifest. The stage is set for a contest between a policy of concession and coercion on the one hand and a policy of agitation and non-co-opera-tion on the other hand. Yet in the nature of the case there must to avoid serious trouble, be a policy of greater give and take than has yet been shown on either side. The British Government evidently intends to go ahead with its own programme of purely political reform. Its inspiration is to safeguard the British hold, especially economically, upon the vast Indian population, and consistent therewith to give as much local autonomy as may be workable. Under the type of federalism contemplated there is not to be any insistence upon uniformity. The native States are to be treated as allies, whilst the masses are to be regarded as tutelary and subsidiary. The rivalry between Hindu and Moslem as well as the incongruity of the smaller minorities lends itself to the conclusion that an Indian constitution need not be like any other constitution under the sun. British trade and commerce has vast interests in India, compared with -which its other oversea interests are almost of secondary importance. In estimating the account taken of Gandhi, the spokesman of Indian Nationalism, the British economic stake has to be taken into account. He claims dominion status, and is told India is unripe, if ever she will be fitted, for such a measure of autonomy. India certainly is a Conglomeration of communities without many visible ties of unity to-day. A; Legislature that would give accurate expression to their varying ideals, philosophies, prejudices and antipathies could scarcely be imagined. The rajahs fear democracy and prefer British rule to the alternative of popular government. It is the National Congress, admittedly the the expression of a wide variety of classes and. native interests, which is the sole exemplar of democracy in India. Its sway is extending. Gandhi’s importance lies in his fundamental insight into not only the Indian character, but the economic problem of the whole, vast peninsula, and his fundamental object, is even less a political than an economic emancipation. That is where his main conflict with British policy lies. He is wielding a powerful

weapon in the growing desire of the Indian masses for a better standard of living. When lie countenances the boycott and even says he prefers the eonipara- f tively backward native methods i of production to the importation : of cheaper and in some cases superior oversea products, he might ( appear to be backward or de- a cadent in his economic philo- c sophy, but the truth is that, he feels a self-supporting India under antiquated methods is prefer- 1 able to an India subverted to up- ' to-date economic processes under foreign domination and operated for foreign profit. It is often < said that countries with a currency that is not valued beyond ' their own borders, and that have ' no gold basis, are keeping their ■ people in privation, but the truth is that the unacceptable nature of their money is precisely what keeps foreign products away and enables them to retain their own people in employment at a time when the more advanced countries count their workless in millions. It might appear that the no-rent campaign, for instance, is purely a political expedient with the Indian Congress, but it, is far more an economic revolt. The natives are only too lacking in the means to pay rent, and they find the taxes a great burden. Gandhi may be lacking in conciliation, but his reason is doubtless a desire not to accept the political shadow as a substitute for the economic substance of reform. He is out to put a term to the toll which is taken by absentees and Nabobs from the miserable millions. There is, however, a disposition among many British statesmen to go a good distance in enabling the Indians to better their lot. They are obliged to compromise with the British financial and commercial interests, not to mention political diehards like Mr Churchill, whose chief use for the Indian appears to be that of a pawn in the game of Imperialism. The late Viceroy Lord Irwin, has been criticised as havingbeen too conciliatory with Gandhi. The present Viceroy appears to he expected to alter that policy by arranging .for the forcible suppression of discontent and disaffection. But it has to be recognised that the Indians are learning very rapidly that their■ condition of living- compares most unfavourably -with the general standard abroad, and it is only the foolish politician who would attempt to stifle that realisation under a regime of coercion. If, as he has been assured, British policy aims at a real and continuous uplift of the living standard of the Indian, then there need not be a tithe of the fear or distrust of Gandhi that his critics profess. He has been called a visionary, ’ but he is a realist, and he wants the Indians empowered to better ; their lot themselves. He is quite familiar by past oversea experi- ' ence with European ideas and conditions, and he is anxious to develop the resources and enlarge ■ the life of his compatriots. His ■ danger would lie in attempting to do everything in a span of less ■ than a lifetime. It is as much of 1 a task to reconcile India’s fae- - tions with his aims as to convert British opinion. But it is safe to say that had no such popular figure as Gandhi arisen, nor such ■ movement as that for which he ; remains the spokesman, the ■ spirit of hopeless fatalism would 1 still dominate the empire of In- | dia. The aspiration now animating her people is calculated upon its realisation to render India ultimately a more valuable unit in the British Commonwealth of Nations than acquiescence in a des--1 tiny of utter irresponsibility could ever have done.