INDIA AND THE REFORMS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22776, 9 July 1937, Page 10

INDIA AND THE REFORMS

A new turn has come in Indian affairs, the Working Committee of the AH India National Congress having decided that the party should take office in those provinces in which its followers gained majorities at the general elections. An atmosphere of militancy is given to the resolution, but actually it represents a defeat for 'those who are now ready to approve forming Ministries. I t was Iho Working Committee which committed the Congress to its policy of non-co-operation in the Legislatures. By resolution it affirmed this course, which necessarily meant that office would not be accepted in those provinces where the Congress was the only section able to form an administration. The effect was to stultify the reforms which Great Britain is now instituting, but it did not mean bringing the conduct of public business to a standstill. The Government of India Act, 1035, gave the Governors of Provinces emergency powers to deal with any such situation. Even when the resolution was first passed, observers of Indian affairs doubted whether the policy of boycott it embodied would last. The Working Committee at the centre was content with the course proposed, but the provincial politicians, to whom office lay open for the taking, were not. Consequently there arose a conflict behind the scenes between the executive of Congress and the rank and file. It has now ended, and the Working Committee has had to give way. It does so in a form which suggests that wrecking tactics will be employed; but they cannot be used without limit, for the emergency powers the Governors wield will be a safeguard. Moreover, once the provincial members have entered office they may not be disposed to cast away the substance of power for the shadow of non-co-operation.