DIFFICULT SITUATION

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 60, Issue 4234, 22 January 1940, Page 6

DIFFICULT SITUATION

THE PROBLEM OF INDIA. “There are many Indies,” says the “Glasgow Herald.” “This remains true in spite of the fact that most of the Indian provinces have Congress Party Governments, and that these Governments have, on the whole been reasonably successful during the last couple of years. The Mohammedans, the Princes, and the depressed classes (‘untouchables’), to say nothing of minor political parties, have a very genuine fear *?J any sort of central ‘Home Rule’ Government which would give power to the Hindu majority represented by the Congress. They have protested loudly against the Congress leaders’ claim to speak for the whole country at this moment, and such protests cannot be ignored. Obviously India’s future form of self-government must be one which all the leading groups can accept. But meanwhile it is very desirable indeed that Indian political leaders should be closely associated with the central Government of their country. Here the claims of Mr Ghandi and other Congress spokesmen are undoubtedly strong. There can be no doubt that the National Congress remains the chief, though not the only, organ of Indian political opinion.”