The Wanganui Chronicle. MONDAY, MARCH 16, 1942 INDIAN POLITICS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 63, 16 March 1942, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. MONDAY, MARCH 16, 1942 INDIAN POLITICS

r JHE mission entrusted to Sir Stafford Cripps by Mr. Winston Churchill, lo approach the Indian political parties, can be regarded as of very great importance to the British Empire. Mr. David Low, in a recent broadcast, appeared to blame the British Colonial and Indian Civil Service lor not aligning the native populations with the British in the same way that the Americans had aligned the Filipinos. If this was the intended burden of Mr. Low’s remarks, then it must be said that this penetrating critic has failed to take into consideration the very different set of circumstances which operated in the Philippines from those which have existed in the various parts of the Colonial Empire and in India. . American administration of the Philippines was no more successful than the British administration of India, despite the simpler problem presented by the former task. The Filipinos agitated for years for independence, but when they were given it in futuro they realised that the responsibilities of self-government included defence, and they were schooled by that fact to appreieate that the nexus with the United States of America was not a burden but a privilege. Reality taught the Filipinos, but the absence of a near external threat has caused the Indians neither to lay aside their political strife, one section with the other, nor to appreciate to the full—in political circles that is—the value of the protection ■which the, British Empire has afforded the sub-eontineiit for a period of a hundred years. Never before in its history has India been so beneficially and peacefully governed, but Indian politicians have not been saying that. Indian and Aloliammedan populations have all the time stood opposed to each other, and this opposition goes deeper than the ■ pig-and-whistle riots of Calcutta. Tlie minorities, particularly ! the Depressed, which includes the Untouchables also, have to bo considered in any constitution which is fashioned for Indian selLgovernment. It would be a manifest, injustice for the British to bring these outcast peoples and the other minorities to a state of education and social sense only to hand them over to the unprotected attention of a. people which has, as yet. not shown its ability to administer an even-handed justice. Sir Stafford Cripps bears lo the political parlies of India an offer of self-government which, it is hoped, will result in tlie Indian populations dropping tlwir internal feuds now that India is threatened ■with invasion. The terms of that offer have not been revealed, and that, in itself, is a wise procedure in th? circumstances. The negotiations will, in (he first instance, proceed by a series of confidential conferences with party leaders, but it would be unwise, in the light of past experience, to expect 100 much from these negotiations. If they fail it would be as weii not to lie over-hasty in laying the blame on the Indian Civil Servie, or upon Sir Stafford Cripps.