BUSY DAYS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 April 1942, Page 3

BUSY DAYS

SPENT BY INDIAN LEADERS DISCUSSION OF BRITISH PROPOSALS. MOSLEM LEAGUE ADJOURNS. LONDON, March 31. In New Delhi the Indian leaders spent another busy day discussing the British proposals. The Moslem League adjourned without concluding its discussions. Mr Gandhi and Pandit Nehru are preparing a draft of their conclusions. INDIAN REACTIONS SIR S. CRIPPS’S HOPE. DECISIVE INDICATION AT ONCE. (Received This Day, 10.45 a.m.) NEW DELHI, March 31. Sir Stafford Cripps told the Press: “I hope to get a decisive indication of the reactions of the main communities either today or tomorrow. I expect to be able to tell by Thursday, in broad outline, what I propose to do.” NO ACCEPTANCE AS PROPOSALS STAND. REPORTED VIEW OF CONGRESS COMMITTEE. NEW DELHI, March 30. After the working committee of the Congress Party had considered the British proposals, a prominent Congress member said that not a single member favoured acceptance of the British proposals as they stand. Mr Gandhi and Mr Nehru will address the committee tomorrow before the final decision is made. The committee met this morning for nearly three hours. It is understood that Mr Nehru made a long statement examining Sir Stafford Cripp’s proposals. Mr Gandhi, who was observing his day of silence, did not attend the meeting. It is understood the committee will make known to Sir Stafford their views on his proposals by Tuesday evening. Speakers at the States’ peoples’ conference expressed the opinion that though the people living in the States formed a quarter of India’s population they were ignored in the framing of the constitution. The conference demanded an effective voice and expressed dissatisfaction at the fact that the Princes were given the determining voice under the present proposals affecting the States. Sir Stafford Cripps certainly appears to be implementing to the full his promise to meet as many of the leaders of Indian opinion as possible during his short stay in India. Yesterday he met two leaders of the depressed classes, the Premier of Bengal, a former Premier of the Central Provinces, a delegation of Indian Christians, a delegation from the Justice Party, the Finance member of the Bengal Government, and Mr Bhula Bhaisesai, who is a member of the Congress working committee. Sir C. P. Ramaswami Iyer, Dewan of Travancore, has expressed general satisfaction with Sir Stafford’s proposals. In a Press statement he said they conceded the Congress demands for a constituent assembly, the right of self-determination and complete independence in external and internal affairs. He had been opposed to the sacrifice of central unity in India, but advocates of self-determination could not object to the logical results of their demands. The scheme in his view would go down in history as the most comprehensive and concise of political documents.