No General Consensus on India’s Attitude Toward Commonwealth Conference

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27059, 19 April 1949, Page 5

No General Consensus on India’s Attitude Toward Commonwealth Conference

New Zealand Press Association—Copyright Rec. 8.20 p.m. LONDON, Apl. 18. Public opinion on the eve of the departure of the Prime Minister, Pandit Nehru, to attend the Commonwealth Conference, is much exercised about the outcome of the conference, but apart from a unanimous determination that India must become a sovereign independent republic as soon as possible there is no general consensus of what attitude India should adopt at the conference, says the New Delhi correspondent of The Times. It would seem that the desire to sever all links with the Commonwealth is strongest at the extreme left of national sentiment and becomes progressively weaker as responsible Nationalists realise the full implications, of cutting the painter.

Pakistan is particularly anxious to preserve the existing ties, which she regards as guarantees of her nationhood against aggression. She probably would not dislike a state of affairs in which she remained a full-fledged member of the Commonwealth while India was forced to fend for herself. The outcome of the Commonwealth conference may decide the future political relationships of hundreds of millions of people, says the Labour Party’s newspaper, the Daily Herald. “It is indeed fortunate that at this time of change and experiment within the Commonwealth, a Labour Government holds power in London. A Labour Government can be trusted to wield the Mother Country’s influence in a fully enlightened spirit, untainted by the old, Tory notions of Imperialism.”