The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-08-07
andhi Not To Stab
 Britain In The Back
tCOntlnued from Page D

| mises, nor you on our promises. Let us sit down now and simul- taneously draw up Q declaration of Indian freedom as well as a treaty for cooperation against the Axis"
 Azad was instructed. by vote of the full committee. to cable the final" appeals to Mir. Roosevelt, Gen. Chiang and the Soviet Am- bassador to London.
 Quarters close to the NationalIsts intimated that Azad's letter, like 8 letter which Mohandas K. Qandhi intends to send the viceroy of India, would attempt to justify the nation alists in calling a civil disobedience campaign as the alternative to im- mediate independence for India.
 Azad opened todays committee meeting with a speech, and 0andhi planned to follow him. Then 1t was proposed to take up the resolution calling for civil disobedience.
 It was understood that two power- full Indian leaders were pleading with the NationalistS not to aid Japan by starting @ mass disobedi- ence campaign now but to postpone their independence drive until after the war.
 c. R. Rajogopalachari, leader of the Madras area and former mem- Der of the working committee or executive of the al-India congress, now meeting here, has sent letters to Mohandas K. Gandhi and Mau- lana Azad, president of the commit tee, urging postponement of the campaign, 1t was understood.
 Liberal Leader Appeals
 Sir lei Bahadur Sapru, Liberal leader, was reported to be planning visit to Bombay to plead per- Sonally with the committee not to start the disobedience campaign now.
 There were intimations that the committee, despite its statements to the contrary, might be appeased by a new British appeal for war CO., operation if 1t were coupled with firm guarantee by the United Ma tionS of postwar independence, and the setting up of an all-party In- dian government which would have an effective voice in shaping In- dian defense policy.
 Gandhi at press conference last night, as he prepared to take the active lead of a disobedience cam- paign, said that his prospective ap- peal to the Viceroy, the Marquess of Linlithgow, to give India its inde- pendence within a week, would not be an ultimatum.
 He said it would be an earnest plea to avoid conflict" and that if there was favorable response, me- gotiationS might be possible. But he added, when he was asked if he had abandoned his proposal to negoti- ate with the Japanese If India were given its independence, he said.
 T can give no assurance that we will not deal with Japan.
 If dealt with Japan in behalf of 8 free Indian government gov- ernment I should do so purely in the interest of the Allied cause" he said. Independence must come first. Then must have permis- sion of a free Indian government, which as new ally would seek the approval of the United Nations for its acts.
 ITO wait until after the war for independence would be harmful. Freedom now would assure victory for the Allied nations"
 Gandhi asked impatient Ameri- cans" to wait and see what steps he proposed to take in the dis obedience campaign.
 He said that he would move cautiously but that if general strike became a dire necessity" he would not hesitate to call one.