FROM WEEK TO WEEK

Grey River Argus, 25 February 1943, Page 6

FROM WEEK TO WEEK

(By

H. Winston Rhodes)

INDIA “ ’ J Every attempt is being made and has been made to unify Indian opinion against Britain. However much one may regret the attitude taken by Gandhi and the Congress, the fast remains that a stubborn refusal to understand Indian aspirations, an obstinate disregard for the Indian point of view and a monotonous repetition of nineteenth century slogans has brought about the present deadlock. In a statement issued under the signatures of many well-known Americans and addressed to President Roosevelt and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek urging them to intervene in the Indian dilemma appeared the following passages: "We believe that the present situation in India is unnecessary and can be changed. We believe that it must be changed for our common cause, victory for the allied nations.'. .That Indian readiness to negotiate is unchanged is proved by Gandhi’s expressed desire to meet the Viceroy, before he was imprisoned and again by his recent appeal from prison. It is only to the benefit of the Allied Nations to take advantage of this reasonable attitude shown not only by Gandhi, but by other Indian leaders as well ”

But instead of exploring every possibility in order to win three hundred million allies, Mr Churchill and Mr Amery have seemed to make it their special business to irritate every liberal thinker in England and America and to convince all Indians that Mr Churchill’s Cabinet has neverhad £ny intention of granting Indian independence

On Gandhi’s seventy-third birthday last October, there were fifty thousand political prisoners in India. When Mr Churchill unwisely made the remark that ninety million Indian Muslims are opposed to the demands of Congress, the Muslim premier of Sind immediately renounced his titles and honours, saying: “Mr Churchill’s statement confirms tne belief that the British Government had at no time any desire to part with power.” He was dismissed from office on the ground that he- had lost the confidence of the Governor. It is surely forgivable for an Indian to retort that only an Indian Muslim Willing to confirm Mr Churchill’s statement could possibly retain the confidence of the Governor.

Since the failure of Sir Stafford. Cripps’ mission it has been evident that the Congress has won far more support than the Viceroy and his pocket Ministers. The Liberals, the Sikhs, the Hindu Mahasabha, and even Muslim groups have supported Congress opposition to the British Government proposals. A policy which amounts to a sulky refusal to play combined with gaol sentences and terror (Mr Amery admitted to cheering tories in the House of Commons that mobs had been ma-chine-gunned from the air), is calculated to drive as many as possible into agreement with Congress.

ABUSING THE CONGRESS. A little while ago an opportunity for negotiation was wilfully thrown away. The • ex-Premier of Madras, Mr Rajagopalachari, who had already visited Mr Jinnah, asked for permission to visit Gandhi. The Viceroy refused permission. Mr Ra-

jagopalachari had a plan. It was a plan which he believed would be acceptable both to Congress and to the Muslim League. He wished to travel to England and discuss matters with Mr Amery and responsible authorities. Mr Amery could see no advantage in the proposal to discuss. Is it any wonder that Indians more and more are becoming convinced that Britain has never had any intention of granting India anything remotely resembling independence ?

The Indian problem is bound' to be one of the greatest problems of this century. Its solution and the.method of its solution will have a profound effect upon all the peoples of the world. Its rapid and even partial solution during the war would be of enormous value to the United Nations. Nevertheless on every side one meets with distortion of the facts, refusal even to consider facts, a blindness to any but the AngloIndian view. This is of late becoming more noticeable in cables.

Every attempt is made to suggest that the Congress is pro-Japanese. Every opportunity is taken to claim that the Congress is of very little importance. It is asserted time after time that the communal issue prevents any solution to the Indian, problem. We are told again and again that Indian disturbances have practically disappeared and that there is nothing to worry over.

What we should try to remember is that the Congress is anti-British, not pro-Japanese, that with singular unanimity practically every political party in India is agreed in rejecting the British, that a very great number of the finest minds in Britain and America have always opposed British policy in India and have taken some trouble to understand political and economic cause and effect.

lf anyone really believes that Congress and Gandhi are of no importance or that there is no need to worry over mobs being machinegunned from the air or fifty thousand political prisoners in the gaols, it would be a good idea to glance at the election figures for 1937. to notice for example the Congress majorities in Muslim provinces, and the Congress majorities in by far the largest number of important electorates, and to think that if the fifteen odd million who have a vote exercise it in this way, how would the three hundred odd million exercise it, keeping in mind that as “The Times” admitted, z the National Congress offered more to the voteless man and woman.

Finally, if the- communal problem is a serious one, the Indians themselves are prepared to settle it and believe they can settle it. Even Sir Stafford Cripps began to mouth the usual words and blame the failure of negotiations on to the communal problem, only to be reminded' very quickly by the Indians that the communal problem was not discussed, but that it was agreed that “as soon as the British Government made up its mind to transfer real power and responsibility, other questions could be tackled successfully by those concerned.”

If Gandhi should die, and the appeals for his release go unheard, the results are likely to be disastrous. All except the British tories can see that the days of British rule are numbered, but even the British tories should be able to appreciate the fact that the words The United Nations should mean something, and that if Indian opinion is so unanimously anti-British there must be something wrong somewhere. The wartime problem of India can be solved through negotiation. It cannot be solved by force and vindictiveness.