POWER for INDIA

Grey River Argus, 22 February 1947, Page 5

POWER for INDIA

Certain Next Year

IF PARTIES DO NOT FIGHT NEW VICEROY TO SEE IT THROUGH Britain intends by next year to transfer to India power to govern herself without qualification.

LONDON, Feb. 20. The Prime Minister, Mr. Attlee, told the House of Commons that Field Marshal Lord Wavell’s appointment as Viceroy of India has been terminated and Admiral Viscount Louis Mountbatten has been appointed his successor as from next month. The King has conferred an Earldom on Lord Wavell. Mr. Attlee said the British Government definitely intended to transfer power into responsible Indian hands by not later than June, 1948. The present state of uncertainty between the parties in India was fraught with danger and could not be indefinitely prolonged. If the Constituent Assembly in India had not worked out a constitution in accordance with the British Cabinet mission’s proposals before June. 1948. the British Government would have to consider to whom the powers of the Central Government in India should be handed.

Viscout Mountbatten would remain on the Navy’s active list and his future naval career would not be prejudiced. Mr. Churchill’s Query.

Mr. Churchill said that Lord Wavell was entitled to be treated reasonably, He asked what led to his removal or dismissal.Mr. Attlee replied: “Lord Wavell Was not appointed for a fixed term It was thought that the changed phase of the Indian problem was a suitable time to make a change.” Mr. Churchill: What disagreements have arisen between Lord Wavell pnd the British Government? Mr. Attlee: I don’t propose to add to mv statement Mr. Churchill asked why this moment was chosen for this momentous departure. "Why shouldn’t we be told the truth?” he asked. Mr. Attlee declined to amplify his statement and he did not reply when Mr. Churchill asked if Lord Wavell was to be permitted to make a public statement. Mr. Attlee said Lord Wavell’s was a war appointment which it had now been decided to terminate. Viscount Mountbatten would be entrusted With the “responsibility for the Government of British India in a manner to ensure India’s future happiness and prosperity.” Government's Intention. Mr. Attlee read a White Paper tracing the development over a period of years of British policy, aimed at giving India self-govern-ment. He said the Cabinet mission proposals for the settlement of the constitutional difficulties in May, 1946, were made when it seemed unlikely that the Indian leaders themselves would agree on measures smoothly to transfer power. The Government, with regret, now found that party differences were still preventing the Constituent assembly from functioning as it should.

“The British Government wants to hand over the responsibility to the authorities established by our unanimously approved constitution in accordance with the mission’s plan, but there is at present no clear prospect that such a constitution will emerge,” he added. India enjoyed peace and security as part of the Empire and needed peace and security more than ever to-day if the full probabilities of economic development were to be realised. It was therefore essential that all parties should sink their differences so that they would be ready to shoulder great responsibilities. The Cabinet Mission had obtained a measure of agreement after months of hard work. The Government then agreed to recommend to Parliament an Indian constitution worked out in accordance with the Cabinet Mission’s proposals but, if the constitution were not worked out before the due date, Britain must consider to whom power should be handed over —whether as a whole to some form of Central Government for British India, or in the same areas to the existing provincial Governments, or in any such other way as might seem most reasonable.

Native States To Be An Exception.

The Government did not intend to hand over its powers and obligations towards the Indian States to any Government of British India. It was not intended to end paramountcy as a system earlier than the date of the final transfer of power, but Crown relations with the individual States would probably be adjusted by agreement. In the meantime the British Government will negotiate agreements in regard to matters arising out of the transfer of power with the representatives of those to whom they propose to transfer power. The Government thought British commercial and industrial interests in India would have a fair field for enterprise under the new conditions. The commercial connection between

India and the United Kingdom had long been friendly and would continue so. WHY WAVELL WENT The “Daily Mail’s political correspondent says: Lord Wavell had no alternative but to relinquish his post when he found that his policy was not supported from Home. The breach is said to have begun when the Congress Party sought to persuade Britain to compel the Moslems to withdraw from the Interim Government, because of their failure to join the Constituent Assembly. Lord Wavell resisted this pressure, but the British Cabinet, under the threat of the Congress withdrawal from the Interim Government, came down on the Congress side. Lord Wavell wanted to retain the Moslem members in the hope that agreement would spread more widely. INDIAN PRESS APPROVAL (Rec. 6.30). NEW DELHI, Feb. 21. The ultra-Nationalist Bombay paper, Free Press Journal, described Mr Attlee’s statement as “one more step forward in the achievement of Indian freedom”. It adds “All things considered, it has given Nationalist India the opportunity for which she has long been looking, and of which she had almost despaired”.

The independent paper, Times of India, commented: “The Labour Government’s decision is a drastic one, which may not command universal approval, even in India. Yet its advantages are self-evident. It ends for all time any doubts about British intentions”.

TIME LIMIT FOR SETTLEMENT

QUESTIONED BY INDIAN PAPER

(Rec. 5.5). LONDON, Feb. 21. “The Times” has a leading article on India. It says: The Government plainly hopes to inspire the Indian parties to combine and to prepare for heavy burdens which are so soon to fall upon them. All men of goodwill are bound to pray that this hope may be fulfilled, but the effect of the time limit may prove to have been wholly miscalculated. It may create a vested interest in minority obstruction, and a net premium on disunity, and may inflame instead of constraining, communal strife. There is a grave danger that the statement may strengthen the declared intention of the rival organisations to compel Britain, under a threat of breakdown of the central machinery, to decide in favour of one side or other. It is not clear why the Constituent Assembly should be expected to complete its complex task within fifteen months, ■ and many other matters, surh as a timetable for an intricate complex operation call urgently for elucidation. Lord Wavell’s withdrawal will be a shock to the British people, whorightly felt complete confidence in his character and abilities. Lord Mounbatten can count on the utmost goodwill from all sides. He has given proof of qualitits fitting him for 1 leadership in peace as well as In war. LAHORE, Feb. 20. A large number of Moslems, including 100 women, broke the police cordon and entered the court, and shouted anti-Government slogans while the High Court was delivering judgment on the habeas corpus writ on behalf of Dr. Omar Kayat Malik, one of the Moslem League leaders arrested three weeks ago for defying the Punjab Government’s ban on public assembly. The court, in a majority verdict held thata the public safety ordinance under which the arrest was made did not apply in Malik’s case.

CONGRESS OFFERS GOOD CONCESSION. LONDON, Feb. 20. The Daily Express New Delhi correspondent says: Within two hours of receiving the British Government’s policy statement, Mr. Nehru and the Congress members of the Interim Government decided to invite Dr. Jinnah and the other Moslem League leaders to discuss both their immediate and the long term differences. The Congress is prepared to make maximum concessions, if the Moslems will drop their boycott of the Constituent. Assemblv.

Negotiations are likely to be started for a limited Pakistan in Northern India.

Hindu Ascendancy?

The New Delhi newspaper ‘‘Dawn” in a comment said: Britain might as well have said categorically that an agreement would be entered into with the Congress for Hindu majority areas. Britain had, by implication and by studiously avoiding any reference to the Assembly s future working, recognised that the Constituent Assembly is dead.