Evening star., 1942-09-12
Indian Impusse

4
stands pat on the proposals of the
British government brought to India
last spring and rejected by the va
rlous parties there, although the
reasons for the reflections varied
| Those proposals, he asserts, stand
in their full scope and integrity. No
one can add to them and no one
can take anything away"
Yet, at the same time, Mr.. Church.
Ill holds out no hope that the Cripps
program is likely to be the imme-
diate basis of an Indian settlement.
His sharpest oratorical shafts are
| naturally loosed at the Congress
party, which he represents as a we'll
organized and financed minority
group, accused Of having passed
from non-violence to open revolu-
tionary activity aided by japanese
| fifth column work" He fully upholds
the Vlceroy and the Indian govern
ment in suppressing the Congress
party for its hostile and criminal
course" and says that Gandhi and
/ the other interned leaders will be
kept out of harms way until the
troubles subside."
The Prime Minister emphasizes the
deep historic divisions of the AGO. .00O,-
600 population of an India described
as continent" almost the size of
Europe which has never known or
ganlc unity. He itemizes the various
lnorities-Moslems loW-caste Hin
dus, Native States and others, whom
he estimates at three-ffths of the
total population, and all opposed to
the rule of Congress party domi-
mated by ~high-caste Hindus. He
further asserts that the Congress
party has failed to undermine the
loyalty of the Indian Army or Official
dom, still less, to stir the vast Indian
masses" Order, he says, has been
maintained with negligible loss of
life. The course of events in India
has been improving and is, on the
whole, reassuring"
AS far as 1t goes, Mr.. Churchill's
statement is substantially accurate.
No one we'll acquainted with India
can deny its lack of historic unity,
the profound antagonisms of it's
teeming population, and the fac
tlonal character of the Congress
party. Yet any one with a knowledge
of Indian affairs will be inclined to
view the picture offered by the Prime
Minister as erring on the brighter
side. The Congress party and other
disaffected elements such as the mill
tant Hindu Mahasabha,may not have
succeeded in disrupting India but
they have made and are making a
lot of trouble, which Mr.. Churchill
admits is "hampering the defense of
India against the japanese invader,
who stands on the frontiers" In
this respect, the outlook is by no
means so "reassuring" as the Prime
Minister suggests, and the end of the
monsoon season will intensity the
Japanese danger.
This does not mean that the pres
ent policy of the British government
is wrong. 1t merely means that 1t
has made choice between two evils.
The attitudes of the chief Indian
parties are clearly irreconcilable To
have yielded to the inordinate de-
mands of the Congress would pre-
| sumably have spelled a breakdown
of organized government, the aliena-
ton of a predominantly Moslem ma
tive army, and probably civil war
The present strong policy of Congress
! repression means the embittered
hostility of the high-caste Hindus,
who can sway many millions of their
coreligionists, especially in the cities
| and town. 1t cannot be too strongly
| emphasized that there is no historic
| Indian" patriotism, as such. India
has never been a nation; not even a
| country" in the Western sense. 1t
may be evolving that way, but the
time has not yet come. Meanwhile.
India is exposed to japanese in
vaslon, and strong defense measures
are imperative. Britain has decided
to suppress the malcontents and IA
vor the better disposed. This is
probably the lesser evil.