INDIA IN A HURRY

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5310, 24 January 1947, Page 4

INDIA IN A HURRY

*. JN the absence of the League representatives, who claim to speak for all Moslems in the country, or just on one-fourth of the population, and of. representatives of the Native States, which comprise two-fifths of the area and one-fifth of the whole people, the Indian Constituent Assembly has unanimously declared its resolve to proclaim an independent Republic of India. That this stand would be taken was a foregone conclusion, in view of the extraordinary action taken by the Hindu majority leaders some time ago in inviting some 40-odd States in Asia and Indonesia to a conference to 1 discuss mutual problems, even before the present Interim Government was set up. Thus early, Mr. Nehru is revealing his determination to bid for the leadership of all Asia, while India itself is still in ferment and before those other States have had an opportunity of recognising the new authority or of establishing formal relations with it. Mr. Nehru says that the door is still open for the Moslem League to join the Government and for the Princes to offer their co-operation — on what basis is not quite clear. There are 570 independent States in India, ranging from the dominions of the Nizam of Hyderabad, which are nearly as large as Great Britain, to mere villages. There are 109 hereditary Princes who are of sufficient importance to claim membership of the Chamber of Princes in their own right. For these rulers to continue to function more or less as autocrats within the framework of a sub-continental- Republic would be highly illogical, and whether they could offer any sustained resistance to the central Government, with the support of their® subjects, is extremely. doubtful. Their people are not British subjects but British protected persons and their authority is in all cases limited by their relationship to the paramount Power, personified by the Viceroyi Th,e Princes, as such, have taken little part in the recent negotiations to form a Government ^ of India by Indians. At one time they were more insist-

r ent on their hereditary rights | and prerogatives than they are to-day and if there have been j any contemplating active oppo- | sition, they are sure to pause on j hearing the emphatic warning j of Mr. Nehru, who has declared: I It is a scandalous thing for any man to say that he has any special Divine rule over human beings. On the idea of the Divine right of kings, there is going to be no compromise as far as we are concerned. The States' representatives can cbme at the earliest possible moment. We will welcome them, if they are the proper representatives of the States." That last proviso is thought-provoking, in view of the fact that there is a large number of Moslem rulers whose subjects are predominantly Hindus. Does the Pandit Nehru infer that these Princes may not be acceptable ? The northern frontier States, in which Mohammedans are in a majority of the populace, and which would form an important sector of Mr. Jinnah's dreamState of Pakistan, are more likely to hold out against the authority of the Government

religious bloc in active opposition to the new order at New Delhi. Fuythermore, the chances of European and Indian eivil servants, soldiers, and police receiving compensation from the Interim Government for the premature ending of their services to India are extremely remote. . It is inconceivable, however, that highly qualified administrators who passed the i&tMeiit , examinatlon i.ri I