TENSENESS IN INDIA

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 855, 26 December 1929, Page 9

TENSENESS IN INDIA

PARLEY WITH LEADERS ! BREAKS DOWN A CRITICAL SITUATION United P.A. —By Telegraph—Copyright Reed. 10 a.m. DELHI, Wednesday. It is generally understood that conversations between the Viceroy, Lord Irwin, and five Indian political leaders ended in a total breakdown. Gandhi, inspired by the pundit, Motilal Nehru, pressed lor the immediate grant of Dominion status to India, although Gandhi frankly admitted that the country as yet is utterly unready for the task. The moderate Indian leaders present at Viceroy House, namely, Mr. Jinnah, a Moslem leader, and Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, proved to be hopeless. Extremist counsels are likely now to dominate the Lahore Congress and the immediate course of politics in India. The extremist Mayor of Calcutta, in the course of a speech, alluded in sarcastic terms to the attempt on the Viceroy’s life. He accused the police of planting bombs which, he said, were inevitable whenever India was about to take a big stride toward her political aims. Eight Indians were arrested at Lahore yesterday, including two delegates to the National Congress. The police are prosecuting vigorous investigations into the outrage. The Viceroy has received hundreds of messages from all parts of India congratulating him upon his escape. Even the extremist leaders denounce the outrage.

A report by the Indian Central Committee, which shared the Simon Commission’s investigations throughout India, demands an explicit declaration by Parliament, that full Dominion status is the goal, and that an immediate and substantial step toward its attainment will be made by conferring a liberal measure of autonomy on the Provinces and making the Government of India responsible to the Legislature. "

It is urged that the Madras and Bombay Governments he permitted to experiment in the raising of local armies to maintain internal security, in order to prove that the Indian suspicions that Britain intends to keep India in subjection by the control of her army are unwarranted.