SWIFT ACTION IN INDIA

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 10 August 1942, Page 4

SWIFT ACTION IN INDIA

GANDHI, his wile und other leaders of the Congress Party have not been arrested because they desire the independence of India from British control but because their methods threatened to stab t.he United Nations in the back at a time of great danger. No one will be pleased about it yet it is a relief to find the Government of India taking up the challenge of civil disobedience and trying to short-circuit it by prompt measures. There was abundant evidence of well-laid plans for a mass strike which might have immobilised the biggest army India has ever had, hindered munitions production and harmed those other preparations now being made to strike against the common enemy, .using India as a base. These swift precautions have been answered by riots in Bombay in which the police have been called on to use firearms and tear gas. The rest of India has so far remained fairly calm and it is to be hoped that the dark shadow of internal strife will recede now that its main instigators have been placed under restraint. The arrests are preventive, not punitive. Action taken is similar to that which must ensue against subversive elements in any country when the State is in danger. In this instance it is not only India’s safety that is threatened but that of the hundreds of millions of Russians and Chinese for whom Gandhi professes so much solicitude.