REGIME IN INDIA

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 101, 31 March 1937, Page 9

REGIME IN INDIA

THE AUTONOMY ISSUE. MR GANDHI’S VIEW. CONGRESS CLAIMS. (United Press Association.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) Received March 31. 8-5 a.m. LONDON, March 30. “The British Government has ended the autonomy which it claimed the new Constitution gave the provinces,” Air Ghandi told the Daily Herald’s Madras correspondent. “Government will now lie not by the pen or the majority ot the population, hut by the sword. “1 claim that the Congress Party has asked noliing more than the British Government claimed the Act gave. No doubt the Government can and will impose its will till the Indians develop the strength to resist it.” BRITAIN STANDING BY. NO IMMEDIATE ACTION. Received March 31, 11.35 a.m. LONDON, March 30. Saying he was the originator of the idea of attaching conditions to the acceptance of office, Air Gandhi claimed that, the Congress Party formula could have been accepted by the Governors, since it only meant that they would not exercise their special powers ot interference so long as the Ministers acted within the Constitution.

No immediate action is contemplated by the British Government in con-nection-with Mr Gandhi's action. On the other hand, the Government will allow a short interval for all sides to review and reconsider the situation.

It is pointed out in connection with Mr Gandhi's assertion that the Congress formula could have been accepted that, if the Governors disregarded their responsibilities, they would be acting illegally.