AT A DEADLOCK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 November 1939, Page 8

AT A DEADLOCK

DISCUSSIONS IN INDIA (Continued from page 5.) which they empowered the President, it satisfied, to give an assurance of cooperation and support on behalf of the Moslems of India to the British Government for the purpose of the prosecution of the war.’ CONFERENCE WITH LEADERS "I next invited Mr Gandhi, Dr Rajendra Prasaed (Congress leader) and Mr Jinnah (Moslem leader) to come to see me. and discussed the whole position with them frankly. I had already in previous conversations discussed (as with almost all my visitors) from various aspects the possibility of the expansion of the Governor-General’s Council. 1 now told them that, if in regard to the association at the centre, we had been unable to go further than in a consultative group, it was because of the lack of a prior agreement between the major communities such as would contribute to harmonious working in the centre.

"I added that the manifestos issued on October 22 by the Congress Working Committee and Moslem League had shown only too clearly the gulf that existed between the attitude of these two great parties.’ ’ EXCHANGE OF LETTERS Together with Lord Linlithgow's statement is issued the text of a letter from the Viceroy to the Congress Party and Moslem leaders and the replies thereto.

The Viceroy's letter sets out fully the concrete proposals which appear in a more summary form in his latest statement, together with extracts from his statement of October 18. The following extracts from the letter perhaps amplify the summary to show the full extent of the Viceroy’s proposals in regard to the proposition of an expansion of the Governor-General’s Council.

“You would enter • upon discussions between yourselves with a view to discovering whether you could reach a basis of agreement between yourselves in' the provincial field, consequent on which you could let me have proposals which would result in representatives of the two organisations immediately participating in the Central Government as members of my Executive Council ....

“The position of anyone appointed to the Executive Council as a member of a political party would be identical in privilage and obligation with that of the existing members .... The arrangement would- be within the general scheme of the existing law. It would be admittedly and inevitably a makeshift arrangement for the duration of the campaign.” CONGRESS LEADER’S REPLY The reply from the Congress leaders states: —

"We find ourselves unable to' vary the answer we gave during our interview. At the outset we would like to say that, both Mr Gandhi and I missed at the interview any reference to the moral issue raised by the Congress about a clarification of the war aim without which it was impossible for Congress to consider the subsidiary proposal. “The present crisis has arisen owing to the outbreak of war in Europe and the action of the British Government in declaring India a belligerent country without the consent of the Indian people. The crisis is entirely political and is not related to the communal issue of India. It has raised vital questions in regard to the war aims of the British Government and the position of India in relation to them.”

The letter then speaks of the Congress Working Committee’s statement of September 14 and the endorsement thereof by the All-India Congress' Committee on October 10, and recites in summary the demands therein contained, ’ specially that "the Indian people must have the right of selfdetermination by forming their own Constitution through a constituent assembly,” and that “Indian freedom must be based on democracy and unity, and full recognition and protection of the rights of minorities.” The letter then sets out the consideration and refusal of the Viceroy s statement and the decision to call on the Congress Ministers to resign.

After referring to the declaration made in the British Parliament, the letter continued: "It has clouded the main issue. It has been repeatedly, said on behalf of Congress that there is an earnest desire to settle all points of the communal controversy by agreement, and we propose to continue our efforts to this end.

“We would point out that this question would not come in the way of the declaration of freedom suggested above. Such a declaration applies to the whole of India and not a particular community, and the constituent assembly by which will be framed the Constitution will be formed on the widest possible basis of franchise and by an agreement in accord with communal representation. We are all agreed there must be full protection of minority rights and interests, and this protection should be by agreement between the parties concerned. PROTECTION OF MINISTERS "The British Government, taking or sharing the burden, has in our opinion made a settlement of the question much more difficult. It should allaj all real anxiety on the part of the British Government when Congress declares that it contemplates no Constitution which does not. carry protection of the real minorities to their satisfaction. It seems to us clear that a declaration of the kind suggested is an essential preliminary to any further consideration of the matter. “We should like to add that recent developments in the European war have made it all the more necessary for a clear enunciation of the war aims. If a satisfactory declaration is made, discussion of the proposal made by your Excellency will be appropriate and useful and we will be glad to dis'cuss.”

The reply of the Moslem leader. Mr Jinnah. after setting out. the proposals made at the interview on November !• anti recapitulated in the Viceroy's letter, states: "In consequence I met the leaders of the Congress Party and was informed by them that finally they have come to the conclusion that they could not discuss any questions with regard to the matters referred to in your'letter of the second hist relating to the provincial field or at the camp" till the British Government complied with the demand embodied in the resolution of the All-India Congress Committee. Hence, these two questions were not further discussed."