Congress Accepts Division Of India

Northern Advocate, 16 June 1947, Page 5

Congress Accepts Division Of India

(Received 11 a.m.) LONDON, June 15. THE All India Congress Committee, meeting at New Delhi today, adopted by 157 votes to 29 a resolution accepting the division of India.

The committee unanimously resolved to repudiate the right of any Indian state to declare itself independent and live in isolation from the rest of India.

Mr Nehru declared that any foreign power’s recognition of any such independence would be regarded as an unfriendly act. The committee’s resolution on the states expressed hope that “the states’ rulers will appreciate the existing situation and enter the Indian Union in the interests of their own people and India as a whole.” Mr,Nehru told the committee, when it was considering the British plan, that/'he regarded riots in the Punjab, Bengal and elsewhere with disgust and horror.

j “increasing their armed forces and smuggling in arms and ammunition” j for use against the people, says Reuter’s correspondent. The organisation considered the States concerned were harbouring certain designs which they wished to enforce by force of arms. The Aga Khan, who has a large Moslem following, told Reuters that he was a very happy man regarding the British plan for India. The plan was a compromise, which was always the best course for nations, j Britain was great because she always believed in and worked for a compromise.

He said that in areas which Congress Ministries controlled disturbances had been stopped, but where the British were in control there had been chaos.

At Cawnpore, police fired on Moslem processions held in defiance of a Government ban and killed four and wounded nine.

Mr Nehru added that in the Punjab where there was 100 per cent. British rule, murder and arson continued, in spite of the efforts of seniof officers. Mr Nehru said it would be futile to go into the merits of Dominion status against independence. The most urgent task was to arrest the swift drift toward anarchy and chaos. The first business would be establishment of a strong central Government; all other questions were secondary. COERCION IMPOSSIBLE

Troops were called out and a 24 hour curfew was imposed.

Thirty persons were killed > and more than 200 injured when a gang of Moslems attacked a village*- in the Gurgaon area, south of Delhi. They burned down 150 houses.

“It is impossible to coerce, even with swords, •nwilling parts of India to remain in an Indian domain,’’ he said.

“If they were forced to stay in the union, no planning or progress would be possible. Partition is better than murder of innocent citizens.”

Mr Nehru added that paramountcy under which Britain controlled many affairs of the states could not lapse when the British left. Much of the paramountcy powers would be retained in the Government of India. “We cannot allow anything to happen in the states which affects security,” he remarked. The President of Congress (Mr Kripalani) said if the Princes did not send representatives to the Constituent Assembly, representatives chosen by the people of the states wCUId be welcomed.

Mr Gandhi, commenting on the announcement that Travancore and Hyderabad intended to proclaim independence when the British left India, said: “The Princes’ declarations are tantamount to a declaration of war against the free millions of India. “Such declaratioris were possible when the Princes had British backing, but things have changed now.” MOVE FOR INDEPENDENCE

Following the recent declarations by certain States, including Travancore and Hyderabad,' that they would assume sovereign independent status on August 15, the All-India Congress Committee will consider a resolution from its working committee that the Congress Party cannot admit the right of any Indian State to declare its independence and live in isolation from the rest of India.

Such a step would be a denial of the course of Indian history and the objective of the Indian people, the resolution stated.

Mr Kripalani, president of the Congress Party, told the All-India Congress Committee that demands by the Princes’ States for sovereign independent status were preposterous. The Congress Party would never agree to the States’ claims.

“We cannot accept an interpretation that, with the lapse of British paramountcy. States which were always part of India will automatically cease to be so,” he said. "If the Princes are wise they will respect the will of their people. GANDHI SUPPORTS PLAN

“As constitutional rulers, they have a glorious part to play. As petty tyrants misled by their Prime Ministers, they can only have an inglorious end.” Mr Gandhi told his prayer meeting that any State declaring itself independent when India was on the threshold of freedom was committing a grave wrong and going against the wishes of the people. Supporting the British plan, Mr Gandhi said it no doubt was defective; but no one could extract gold from earth. The standing committee of the AllIndia States Organisation has drawn the attention of the Government to reports that some Indian States were