SPIRIT OF INDIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20087, 26 October 1928, Page 13

SPIRIT OF INDIA.

PLEA FOR FAIR DEALIu ?.

AN ELOQUENT ADDRESS

THE MAHARAJA OF BURDWAN

[FROM OUR, OWN O'OHRESFONDEKT. ] LONDON, Sept. 21. "Let not Indian politicians, in their mad desire for freedom, and in their undue haste in pursuit of ideas of libei ty which inevitably lead to revolution and the guillotine, guillotine and destroy the one true, indigenous institution in India the Indian States," declared the Maharajadhiraja Bahadur, of Burdwan, speaking yesterday at the Indian Empire Club on Indian affairs.

India at present was at the cross-roads, the speaker remarked, and lie recalled the statement made by the late Mr. Montagu, when Secretary of State for India, in the House of Commons on August 20, 1917, relative to Indian Government. By using the words "responsible Government," Mr. Montagu undoubtedly made tho boldest pronouncement ever deliberately made in the history of British India, and there was no doubt that it did mean that Great Britain proposed, in the course of time, to withdraw from India as completely as she had withdrawn from Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa "A Spirit o! Defiance," The • Maharaja asked whether the spirit which had pervaded the Lucknow Conference was not tho spirit of defiance, the spirit of unruly frenzy, the attitude of those who said, "If you don't give us this or that we don't wish to remain an integral part of the Empire?" ■"I say with emphasis that it is this latter spirit that, has been rampant," said the speaker, "and that therefore it is not the spirit of India that has spoken at the Lucknow Conference. It is the voice of the political idealists, the political froth blowers, as well as political carpet baggers and adventurers who are out to make the best they can on the plea of British democracy, British justice and fairness—although on the fringe of this there is h distinct tint of Leninism — without considering the consequence of chaos, without considering that the position of the Indian Princes had got to be clearly defined, and that without them no development of the federal idea would be possible. "The Indian Princes should define clearly what they want and abide by their allegiance to the King-Emperor, and having secured a clear understanding as to who is to be the supremo authority in India, they should co-operate in any federal union that might bo brought into existence. We cannot allow Indian speakers to pose as loyalists and yet get up, as I believe they did at the end of the Lucknow Conference, and sing 'Bande Mataram' when they were asked to sing 'God Save the King.' It ?s throwing dust- in the eves of the British public.

Warning Against "Claptraps." '"1 sincerely hope that the two committees that the Viceroy is about to appoint from (lie Council of State and the Legislative Assembly may act in cooperation with the members of the Simon Commission; but, knowing too much of the game of politicians in India, I am almost certain that there will be two minority reports and a different set of recommendations submitted. I wish to warn all those Britons and Indians who sincerely wish to see the continuance of progress in India, and the advancement of political institutions, such as Legislative bodies, not to be enamoured of clever political claptraps or sentimental Arcadians.

"Realising the backwardness of the masses in India, the difficulties of the racial question, the religious questions, the caste system, the Hindu-Moslem question, they should not advocate frenzied politics, but true Imperialism, which will develop within its folds not only steady progress in British India, but will set on foot in full strength and all sincerity the prosperity of the great Indian States and their rulers. True Swaraj, however primitive it may be in some of the States, ovists only in those territories."