THE INDIAN CONGRESS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24791, 16 December 1941, Page 5

THE INDIAN CONGRESS

POLICY TOWARDS WAR (Rec; 7 p.m.) ' RUGBY, Dec. 14. Strong pleas for a change in the policy of the Indian Congress towards the war were made by an influential Indian statesman, Mr Raj Gopalachari, when addressing' the convocation of Lucknow University. Mr Gopalachari, who is a former Congress Premier of Madras and a member of the Congress Working Committee, pointed out, according to a Lucknow press message, that in applying the non-violence rule there must be many limitations and necessary variations on account of actual conditions. "The defence of India, according to some of us, is a case to be treated as an exception: Mr Gandhi stands for total opposition to all wars, but some of us feel that our struggle cannot simultaneously bear the weight of two major issues, namely, the issue of British control in India and the issue of non-participation in War. Surely we cannot hope for emancipation at. the hands of Britain's enemies." -^ Mr Gopalachari then called for the formation of a provisional national coalition Government at the centre. He said that even from the point of view of mere efficiency the present unconstitutional and wholly undemocratic arrangement at the centre and in most of the provinces was fatally weak and would crumble at the onslaught of real danger. Pandit Nehru in a speech at Allahabad said: "We can have no relations with Hitlerism; which is brutal and wants to dominate the world. Hitler treats Indians With contempt, »and places Asiatics on the lowest grade of people. We must not be jubilant over German successes, I oppose the present system of government in India, but do not forget the interests of our friends in China arid Russia."