INDIAN DESIRE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20072, 19 October 1939, Page 6

INDIAN DESIRE

CHECK TO MENACE COMMON FREEDOM VIEW OF ALL FACTIONS DEBATE BY LORDS MINISTER REPLIES (EU,,.. Tel. Copyright —United Press Assn.) (British Official Wireless.) Rocd. 1.30 p.m. RUGBY, Oct. 18. Lord Zetland, the Secretary of State for India, replying to the debate in the House of Lords raised by Lord Snell on the Viceroy's statement, said that the outbreak of the war immediately evoked from one end of India to the other a violent protest against the outrage committed by the Nazi Government and resulted in spontaneous oilers of support, irrespective of class or community. Prior to the war, however, the Coni gross Party protested against troop 1 movements occasioned by the necesi sary defence measures, although these precautionary moves, had been com- | municatcd to the leaders in all polii tical parties in the Assembly. ! Passing from this phase, Lord Zct- : land, dealing with the position at the ; outbreak of the war, stated that, with j his approval, the Viceroy had been for long in close touch with Mahatma Gandhi and he expressed gratitude for j Gandhi’s readiness to hell), not only in interpreting the Congress viewpoint and aspirations, but also by the endeavour to appreciate the difficulties and outlook of the British Govj arnment. Help of Gandhi Lord Zetland said that uandlii had | given much help in the attempt to i surmount these difficulties. The invita-i : lion to meet the Viceroy was immediately accepted and as the outcome ot the conversations Gandhi publicly j stated, in his personal capacity, that his view was "that in the struggle : upon which the country has entered : India should give unconditional sup- ; pci t to the British Government." I Lord Zetland then mentioned the j comprehensive statement by the Conj gress working committee which had received careful consideration. “Broadly speaking, its effect was, | while condemning unequivocally the ; action of the German Government, to ' make clear that before Congress could 1 decide to give support, it wished to : be informed of the British War aims : particularly how the aims would I apply in India," said Lord Zetland. Meanwhile the working committee j of the All India Muslin League, the j next most powerful organisation in ; Indian politics, issued a statement i also condemning the Nazis, but expressing the views on the internal | political situation showing a substanI tial divergence from the views ol I Congress. Views of Princes The Viceroy also received the views ! of the princes and the National Lib- ! oral League as well as the leaders ot i the minorities. Out of this background of the In- | dian picture, two main features arose, j said Lord Zetland. The first was the j unanimous desire of all communities to see the overthrow of the menace overshadowing Europe and mankind. The second was the desire for selfexpression in forms of democratic,' political self-government. But minorities demanded safeguards against the majority and herein was found the root cause of the main difficulty. For this reason the problem of Indian self-govern-ment was not as simple as appeared to those confining the view to one part of the picture only. Members of the Viceroy's consultative committee, which was maintaining close touch with all aspects of the war, would be in a position to give free and frank expression on all matters laid before them and, being fully representative ol’ members of all communities working in close association with each other, would tend gradually to lessen the differences now existing between the various interests and emphasise the common viewpoints of ail taking part in the work. Speaking of the future, Lord Zetland said that the object of the British Government, as ever, was the attainment of Dominion status Tor India.