The Wanganui Chronicle FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 1932. MOVEMENT IN INDIA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 12, 15 January 1932, Page 6

The Wanganui Chronicle FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 1932. MOVEMENT IN INDIA

r pHE success attending the Government’s strong action in rounding up the trouble-makers in India, the incarceration of Mr. and Mrs. Gandhi, and the clapping in gaol of other “leaders,” and the suppression of the Congress, prompts the enquiry as to why the Government did not act with the same energy at an earlier date. It would surely have saved a lot of valuable time and minimised the trouble! Such a question and contention are reasonable, but they are not altogether well founded. When Mr. Gandhi went to London, he was in two minds—whether to go or whether to stay away. The invitation placed him upon the horns of a dilemma. Were he to refuse the invitation, then lie cut himself off from moderate Indian opinion, which naturally desires progress with tranquility. Were Mr. Gandhi to go to London, then he could not foresee how Congress was going to jump in his absence. Could he use words of moderation and conciliation at the Round-Table Conference in London while the temperature was rising in the All India Congress? Were- he to do so, then his active support would have disappeared. Thus, Mr. Gandhi went to London with misgivings in his heart, because of his equivocal position. During the progress of the London Round-Table Conference it was quite clear that Mr. Gandhi was ill at ease. There was a great measure of agreement in the air. The Indian Princes found it possible to agree to the Federal idea, and thus removed one stumbling block and at the same time one very good propaganda point for Mr. Gandhi and his friends. The Conference was going too well for the Congress. Therefore, Mr. Gandhi’s attitude became intransigient and his phraseology became ever more cloudy. Mr. Gandhi’s contribution was negligible to whatever success attended the Round-Table Conference. He could not make any valuable contribution to the Conference, and at the same time walk at the head of the Congress procession, thus giving the impression that he was leading- it. The newspaper interview accredited to him at Rome, and which he denied, but which was subsequently reaffirmed as authentic, fitted in with the picture, harmonising both with his previous and subsequent conduct. His return to India was not exactly as much of a “Welcome Home” as he could have wished. He had no success in his hands to present to Congress, and other circumstances were running- against him. Prices for various Indian products had risen, .and in consequence employment for the Indian labouring class was on the increase. The Indian, like everybody else, prefers p’nee to politics, and looked with disfavour upon a renewal of disturbances which jeopardised his job. When he was without employment and with no prospect of getting any, he was quite amenable to Congress influence, and particularly so when there was some pay attached Io it. The delay by the Government in taking action has. therefore, permitted the Congress to exhaust its influence and shipwreck loomed up as a possibility for the Congress movement. To give Congress its quietus now can be accomplished without coming up against large sections of Indian native opinion. Congress has played itself into an exhausting position, and the Government is certainly exploiting the occasion with thoroughness. The difficulties and inconvenience and loss which are incidental to a disobedience or non-co-operation campaign are naturally resented by a large class of moderate opinion when it has had to contemplate Mr. Gandhi’s conduct at the Round-Table Conference. The strong action of the Government has, therefore, been rightly timed, like a knock-out blow by a well-trained boxer. It has carried with it a large amount of popular approval, and this combination of Government action and public opinion will doubtless produce beneficial results in India’s economic, social and political life.