INDIA’S POLITICS

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 97, 18 January 1921, Page 3

INDIA’S POLITICS

THE TWO NATIONALIST MOVEMENTS

LORD MESTON REVIEWS THE POSITION

Lord Meston,, India’s representative in the Imperial War Cabinet and Conference and ex-Finance Minister of the Indian Viceregal Council, gave an address on the “Political Position in India” in the Whitworth Hall of the Manchester University. Put in a nutshell, Lord Meston said, the political position in India to-day might be thus described: instead of the autocratic British rule which had obtained since the Crown dispos<u\ssed the old East India Company, India had been given a Constitution. Although the Constitution opened the door only partially and in a sense experimentally to democracy, it went further in the direction of political liberty than tlie great bulk of Indians had believed possible or than the friends of India, except a few advanced thinkers and the Labour Party, had claimed for her. Notwithstanding this, a considerable and very vocal section of Indian politicians had refused to take any share in the new form of government, and was preaching something which was barely distinguishable from revolution. It had succeeded in fomenting unrest and disaffection which seriously threatened the p;-nce of the country, and had produced what Mr. Montagu had described us “an extremely dangerous situation.” There were two ways of regarding the situation. One was to treat the new and disturbing features of Indian politics as merely a part of the world-wide unsettlcment which had followed the war. Another was to assume that, like all unexpected historic movements, the disturbances had roots deep down in the mental processes of the people and in causes which it was within the capacity of a careful and impartial historian to trace. Dealing with the second of these views, Lord Menton said it was not incompatible with the fullest appreciation of the wonderful work that Britain had done for India, nor was it inconsistent with a faith in the continued association of Britain with India for their mutual 'benefit and in the orderly development of constitutional freedom. What was surging in India to-day was a national spirit, very raw, very unequal, and in certain quarters very unbalanced. We had long conseled ourselves with the belief that the vast majority of Indians would rather be ruled by us than by themselves —that India was a continent, not a country, and that its vast diversity of races, languages, and creeds made it embrace foreign rule because there could not be any of that sentiment of unity which stood clearly out among the most elusive elements of modern nationalism. But we forgot the unifying medium of the English language, and, whatever else we forgot or remembered, the fact remained that we had nationalism among us now—a living, vigorous; and expanding power. And we must lay our plans for' the future in the certainty time our work would have to be done in conjunction and in harmony with that spirit. In tlie National camp, Lord Meston continued, there were two parties. One of them appieciated the British civilisation and wished to use all it could by way of a blend with Indian ideals, and thereby to produce a national life of a better type than India would have developed unaided. This party clung to the British association, and was content with Hie somewhat uninspiring title of Moderates. The other party, if one penetrated through plausible professions and looked into its heart, had no such desires. Its ideal was an India purified of the foreigner and all his apparatus of life and culture. Its creed was exclusive, pontifical, and intolerant. It had accepted the badge of Extremist, and demanded virtually immediate independence. The constitution of this paity was difficult to classify. It contained men of perfect sincerity of purpose and genuine patriotism, who saw no hope for India except the earliest escape from the agnostic and materialistic influences of the West. It contained many Brahmans, who hated us for shaking their ancient ascendancy, and were prepared to stop at nothing for the restoration of their former power. But it also contained men who had been filled with racial bitterness by. some disappointment which they lay at our door, by some social slight, by the rudeness of some thoughtless Englishman. There were many, observers who would assure us that between Extremists and Moderates there was in reality no intrinsic difference, that both wanted India for the Indians, and an end to our rule. He did not believe that the schism was artificial. Both parties, it was true, looked forward to self-government for India, but their methods of attaining it differed essentially, and so he fancied did their mental picture of it when it was attained. Other cities would say that Extremism was a recent growth which started with Lord Curzon’s partition of Bengal, and that it could have been stamped out by a Government strong enough to rule instead of prating of political concessions. 'IMs view he believed to lie a complete misreading of history. It was the Moderates who were a recent party; They were the growth of our system of administration, and our teaching and they, were the real Radicals of India. The Extremists, although 'they preached revolution, were the Indian Conservatives, and their roots were too deep to be affected by the harrow of administrative suppression. The Extremist theory had an appeal to the mind of India of a wholly special character, to which there was no corresponding challenge in the Moderate creed. For it was linked both with fhe enduring power of Hinduism in general and with the chief figure in the Hindu punthon in particular. There was a <flose connection between it ‘and the worship of Siva, the Destroyer, and Siva was far the most popular member of the great Hindu trinity. By inarching under Siva’s banners Extremism gained no small prestige with the populace. After describing in detail the methods adopted by the Extremists, Lord Meston said he did not suppose any Government in modern times had had a more difficult task than that of checking the mischief that was being done. I’he Extremists were deliberately challenging a conflict and hampering in every possible way the machinery of the Administration. The officers of the Government were asking for reasonable protection in the execution of their duties. The non official European community were furious at what they believed to be the weakness of the Government. The great mass of well-disposed Indians were, as usual, unwilling to interfere. The Government was convinced that the time had come for making the first step towards selfgovernment. To make the step, however, in an atmosphere of accepted conflict with Extremism would be fatal to its success. If the Government decided to put down at nil costs the campaign of virulence and provocation to disorder, and postponed the now Constitution until it had lone so, the Moderates and India itself would be humiliated in the face of the world .and the cause of progress indefinitely set back. The Government believed it was largelj' a question of time—that- to endure a few more mouths would enable a responsible Indian Government to be put into co-operation with the British officials. They were therefore avoiding an issue at the moment. There was always a risk in India of heroic measures being overdone, and we lived in a time when practical sagacity was of the first importance. Already there were some signs that, the Extremists had overreached themselves. Their projects of non-co-operation and fallen flat, and the. elections to the new assemblies were drawing popular attention from their extravagancies.

Of the future, Lord Meston added, one thing was certain. There would .always be two schools of Nationalism so long as Englishmen retained a share in the government of the country—the narrow pontifical, pharisaic school which believed that the only salvation for India was to go back to Vedic idenls; and another school looking out on a wider hope, with a united and progressive India as its ideal, resting not on narrow sectarian foundations of privilege and tradition, but on the broader basis of a national life in which the citizens of all races and creeds would share. And in his opinion the second of these two schools would prevail.