INDIAN REPUBLIC IS PROJECTED

Grey River Argus, 5 October 1948, Page 5

INDIAN REPUBLIC IS PROJECTED

Question For Premiers’ Conference

LONDON, October 3.

A correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” referring to the question of the future relationship of India towards the British Commonwaalth of Nations, says that the Indian Prime Minister, Pandit Nehru, is expected to express to the Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Conference India’s desire to “become an independent, sovereign republic.” The correspondent adds: It is believed Pandit Nehru’s task is to find out how far, and with what advantages, an independent republic ( can be a member of the Commonwealth, and what changes are contemplated to induce India to remain a member. Nearly all sections favour ties with Britain, but how far some are dictated by genuine friendship is not known. The dominating attitude is th e belief that the Commonwealth can be pressed into concessions to keep India in some form of association with the Commonwealth India has postponed a decision to reduce the size of the Indian Army because, of the atmosphere of lawlessness beyond her borders. This was announced by the Deputy-Premier, Sardar Patel, who added that the Government had received information that the Communists in Burma had contacts with the Communists in Calcutta, Assam emdHyderabad.