INDIA MOVES TOWARDS INDEPENDENCE

Wanganui Chronicle, 30 October 1946, Page 6

INDIA MOVES TOWARDS INDEPENDENCE

ALL RACES WANT BRITISH OUT OF COUNTRY MIBSIONER REVIEWS SCENE. Though the country had many problems and difficulties to lace, he thought that India's future would be brighter. Res-. W. M. Ryburn, M.A., missionary from India, told members of the Wanganui Rotary Club at the weekly luncheon meeting yesterday. Res-. Ryburn is in Wanganui to report on Missionary activities to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of New' Zealand. Mr. Ryburn was welcomed and introduced by Director A Holroyd, acting president for the day. Mr. Holroyd said that Mr. Ryburn had spent a period in Wanganui some years ago. Describing the various elements in the present situation, Mr. Ryburn said there was first the Congress, which claimed to be a national party representing all creeds and races. But. the Muslims said that the Congress Party was a Hindu one. The latter were in the majority,’ but Congress did contain other elements.

The Congress had been started by an Englishman in the eighties of last century with the idea of giving Indians a place to meet for educational purposes. At that time, and until about 10 years ago, Muslims had been prominent in the Congress, but the Moslem League had expanded considerably under Mr. Jinna and was now the paramount Moslem body in India, representing about 75 per cent, of Muslims.

The league aimed to end Hindu domination of the Congress, and had made it clear to the Viceroy and the Government that the league wanted the right io nominate all Muslims for the interim government. Congress and the league had now' both agreed to take part in the interim government. It was of interest that the Minister of Defence was a Sikh. He. as Minister in charge of the armed forces would play an important part during internal troubles. The fact that a Sikh had been retained in such a position after the Muslims had come into the government Indicated that the Congress Party still had control, because the Sikhs were antiMuslim. There were 45.000.000 Sikhs in the country and they would resist any domination over them by the Muslims. The lai ter did not favour a Central Government because such a body, being representative of all the people, must contain a majority of Hindus on a population basis. WANT BRITISH TO GO.

“There have been faults on both sides,” said Rev. Ryburn, “and each has its own point of view'. It is very difficult to predict what will happen now that the Muslims have entered the government. “All Indians, however, are agreed on one thing. They want the British out of India, and they have been told that they will have the right to leave the Empire if they wish once they have set up a stable ...constitutional government. Personally, I think that India will get full independence and leave the Empire in the course of a few years.”

Mr. Ryburn said that various things had. led up to this point of view. The Viceroy’s powers of veto over the Legislative Assembly, and his declaration, for instance, that. India was in the war without reference to the Indians, had caused trouble. Had India been offered Dominion status 10 years ago ail parties would probably have occupied it. Now the - demand was for complete independence, and Britain had wisely accepted this as inevitable. Indian independence would not, however, mean the complete severance of ties with Britain. Indians w'anted to retain trading connections with the Empire, and wanted British capital to remain in India.

There was appalling poverty in India and millions never got enough to eat, said Mr. Ryburn. Besides this, were great natural resources and tremendously rich individuals. The average Indian family had Io exist on the equivalent of £3 a month. IXXIKING TO RUSSIA.

“Indians are looking towards Russia," added Mr. Ryburn. “As they be come more educated they are studying the Soviet experiments very closely, and are trying to see how Communism can be applied in India. Communism in India would be different in some respects because of the Indian character. The Communists in India are not numerous, but they have cells everywhere, and among many classes. At schools and colleges, in cities, and villages, Communism is now widely discussed.”

Mr. Ryburn said he believed that economic circumstances would eventually outweigh religious differences, and Muslims and Hindus had already got together on economic matters in different parts of the country. Indians generally had learned the value of the strike to better their conditions, and their strikes were generally justified. Even the threat, of a strike to-day usually resulted in 75 per cent, of the demands being met. Regarding riots in India, Mr. Ryburn said that though these ostensibly arose from religious clashes, the excesses were generally the work of criminals, who took advantage of the disturbances to loot and kill. The riots as a rule were restricted to (he big cities, and there were few in the country districts, where the majority of Indians lived. Mr. Ryburn pointed out that there were comparatively few Englishmen in control of Indian activities to-day. In the North-West. Provinces for instance, there were only two Englishmen left in the Education Department, and one of these was retiring this year. The Minister and Director of Education were both Indians. Indian judges and magistrates now presided over all the lower courts, and though there were still a number of Btif’.sh judges on the High Court, the majority of the members were Indian;

‘With the British in India controlling things Ihe Indians always had someone they could turn to to clean up the mess after they had got into trouble, ’’ concluded Mr. Ryburn. “Now as they get self-government and full control of their own affairs, they will realise more and more that they must look after themselves, and a greater sense of responsibility will develop among them. It is difficult to foretell what will happen there, but the relinquishment of power by the British ma-,' not prove as bad as many people fear. ”