INDIA'S FREEDOM

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXII, Issue 203, 28 July 1942, Page 5

INDIA'S FREEDOM

MUST WIN WAR FIRST. RUGBY, July 26. Broadcasting to India to-night Sir Stafford Cripps said he knew Indians as a wholo did not support Gandhi. It would be the duty of tho British Government to insist on keeping India as a safe base for operations against the Japanese. Whatever steps were necesary to that end would be taken fearlessly. India was "now an essential and vital part of the world front against the Axis Powers and the British, American and Chinese as well as the Indians were fighting to defend it. If tho obligations of the British Government to their American and Chinese Allies are to be obseiwed Britain must ensure that India remained a safe base in and from which to operate against the Japanese. "We cannot allow conditions to be created by any political party or leader in India that will jeopardise the safety of tho United Nations' armies and air force or throw open the door to the advance of our enemies into this new and dangerous theatre of war," he said. That was our obligation to the Allied troops and the Indians themselves. But Gandhi and the Congress Party had other views. The action threatened by Gandhi was calculated to endanger the war effort both of the Allies and India. Gandhi was threatening extreme pressure at a difficult time in order to gain political power and there was not the slightest doubt that other large political parties were opposed to his demands. India had been offered complete freedom in whatever way she chose for her own self-government when victory was won, but that victory must first be gained and Britain could not allow a visionary, however distinguished in his fight for freedom in the past, to thwart the United Nations' drive for victory in the East.— Official Wireless. A Bombay cable message states that Gandhi has warned Japan that India's movement demanding the withdrawal of the British did not mean a Japanese welcome. On the contrary Indians would resist with all the might that could be mustered. "I have no ill-will against the Japanese although I dislike intensely their attack against China which was tantamount to treachery to Asiatic ideals." A New Delhi message states that Dr Sa'pru suggested a round table conference of representatives of the Indian parties and communities with a view to arriving at a settlement for the period of the war. Ho said the Indian people needed a new spirit to face the enemy next door, but the mass movement proposed by Congress was more likely to stir up internal strife than strengthen resistance against Japan. There was no reason why tho leaders of different parties and communities should not discuss how best to remove the present tension. They could discuss later a permanent constitution for peacetime.