Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-07-31
Says Gondhi Fights
British Agreement
Writer Sees Non Violence
As Leaders Fixed ldeu
In Prevailing Crisis
BIZ T. A. Raman.


When I met Mohandas K. Gandhi the
day after the japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor, he expressed himself as panied
and bewildered but on one point he was
quite clear and emphatic-that what
ever happened he would not launch any
mass passive resistance movement dur
ing the war.
For reasons which I have made pub
lic,' he said, that is as certain as any
thing can be in this world"
Today Gandhi is busily manipulating
opinion in the All-India Congress Party's
Working Committee to launch precisely
such a movement. And he is doing it
despite the fact that his reasons against
such a course are truer than ever These
reasons are that it is not fair to take adj
vantage of Britain when she is mortally
imperiled, that internal differences be-
tween Hindus and Moslems are SO acute
that such a movement may degenerate
into civil war and finally that very few,
even in the Congress Party, share his
faith in non-violence.
Why does he do it? The answer is
internal stress within the party and
Gandhi's now fixed determination to pre-
vent any wartime settlement with
Britain.
The differences of outlook within the
Congress Party have come out in the
open since Sir Stafford Grips left India
r. Rajagopalachari, former minister of
Madras Province, who has resigned from
the partys Working Committee, is sup
ported by another former premier, Pandit
Pant of the United Provinces, and by
Asaf Ali, powerful congress Moslem
Rajagopalachari's program is achieving a
working arrangement with the Moslems.
settlement with Britain on the broad
basis of the Grips offer, complete iden-
LITIGATION with the United Nations and
no nonsense about non-violent resist
ance. The congress committees of the
Punjab, northwestern frontier province
and the bulk of the partys strength in
the south of India have expressed sup
port for this move. So also have the
Moslem League, the Trades Union Con-
gress, the radical peasant organization
known as Kisan Sabha, the Communists
the former dissidents of the Congress
Party student organizations and several
other groups.
Gandhi said few weeks ago that he
was staggered" by the volume of sup
port for Rajagopalachari and immediate
ly thereafter he began dropping hints of
the new plans he was developing Some
thing had to be done to focus public at
tention away from this move and also
finally to scotch the possibilities of a
wartime settlement with Britain.
Gandhi opposes such settlement be-
cause it would involve his party taking
active responsibility for the war effort
which would mean the virtual end to
his hopes Of staging the worlds first ex-
ample of non-violent resistance. He
now publicly declares that he is more
interested in the non-violent ideal than
In independence for India and he re-
veals his calculation in the following
words: British withdrawal would re-
move the bait for a Jap invasion, but
even If it doesn't then non-violent re-
sistance would have full sway"
Moslem League newspapers denounce
Gandhi's move as an attempt to black
mail Britain in order to establish Hindu
rule in India. They have gone so far
during recent weeks as to call Gandhi a
NTH coumnlst' and an enemy of his
country" Organized labor, the Com
munists and Peasant organization are
also expected to decline participation In
Gandhi's movement
| 1t must be recalled that Gandhi's last
| attempt to promote civil disobedience
evoked little enthusiasm although politi-
cal bitterness was then at its worst and
that he had to drop it. Today, a wave
OF anti-Japanese feeling sweeps the coun-
try with numerous anti-Fascist rallies in
thousands of villages and japanese raids
on Ch1ttagong rousing the country to
bitter hatred. The common sense. Or
binary Indian realizes that the back OF
the 1ndo-British quarrel was broken bv
Sir Stafford Grips declaration and that
|
Gandhis movement, therefore, is not
likely to succeed either in embarrassing
the war effort or in upsetting morale.
But Gandhl knows that political MARTYR
! dom Will, nevertheless, achieve one re-
sult-make wartime settlement on the
basis OF complete Identification with the
United Nations much more difficult The
pot will be kept boiling without serious
risk OF any settlement except on the basis
OF independence to fight If and how he
| pleases
In meeting this new danger, British
craftsmanship should prove itself much
more adroit than it has been so far in
india. Britain should reaff1rm her in
tentlons emphatically and unambigu-
ously. Prime Minister Winston Church.
Ill should make it clear that immediately
after the war, Understanding to the
Grips plan or any agreed alternative
| procedue-would be entitled to the fu].
est self-determination and that Britain
Is prepared to transfer immediately the
utmost possible power within the frame
work OF the present constitution.
Gandhi's move is a trial of strength
not only with the government, but with
elements in the country prepared tn
shoulder wartime responsibility on the
basis OF complete identification with the
United Nations.