Evening star., 1942-04-17

LIE u v Elm lNO
relation to Subhas Chandra Bose,
who broadcasts for the Nazis from
Berlin to India.
The news Of the role selected for
Rash Behari Bose comes to Wash
ington through the channels of
British offlcial intelligence. He Is
a person Of no standing in India,
but the Japanese have been making
him familiar in his native country
lately by using him as a propaganda
tool to broadcast to India from jap
anese-occupied Bangkok, Thailand.
This is the burden Of his propaganda
since Sir Stafford Cripps departed:
Indian soldiers, lay down your
arms. You have seen what hap
pened to the troops in Malaga and
Java and Burma who opposed the
Japanese. II you fight the jap
aneSe, you will be hurt"
The Japanese, in other words, are
employing the strategy of terror
used so successfully by their Ger
man allies.
In the News in 1923.
It has been long time since Bose
appeared in the news. In the win
ter Of 1923 the headquarters OF the
government OF India were transfer
red from Calcutta to Delhi. Lord
Hardinge entered Delhi in one OF the
elephant professions which were
common in the old days. This pro-
cession was the last Of them.
While the procession was passing
through the Chandni Chowk, the
most famous street In Delhi, bomb
was thrown from the upper story of
a house and struck the back of the
howdah In which Lord and Lady
Hardinge were seated. In the ele-
phant professions the Viceroy and
Vicereine sat in gorgeous cere-
monial gold howdah, with the ma
hout in front on the neck Of the
elephant and with two Indians be-
hind. One of these two held the
ceremonial umbrella.
Describing the incident later. Lady
Hardinge said she heard an ex-
plosion, and then the elephant
stopped. She turned to Lord Harding
and asked:
What was that?"
The Viceroy replied:
II think 1t must have been q
bomb"
She asked him If he had been
hurt.
mo, I am ali right" he said, and
told the mahout TO go on.
One Of Indians Killed.
Lady Hardinge turned around and
discovered that one of the Indians
was lying dead on the elephants
back and that the other one had
disappeared. When she told tine
Viceroy what she had seen, he
ordered the elephant halted and
then tainted. 1t was learned that
he was badly wounded In the
shoulder.
The criminal investigation division
OF Scotland Yard, put to work on the
case, traced the bomb-throwing to
Bose. He disappeared into the
wilderness OF Pondicherry province
and then made his way to the Far
East.
Persons recently arrived from
India doubt seriously the success Of
BoSe's appeal to the Indian Army
to offer no resistance to any invasion
attempt the Japanese might make.
The backbone of the Indian Army is
made up of Moslems and Sikhs, and
these groups are among those most
pleased with the failure of the
Cripps mission. They are considered
more satisfied today than they would
have been had Cripps effected q
settlement.
Feared Hindu Domination.
Both the Moslems and the Sikhs
feared domination by the Hindus If
India won freedom from England.
Their opinion of relief at the de-
parture of Cripps without a settle
ment is shared by the Mahasaba, the
group of extreme orthodox Hindus
who stand in displeased aloofness
from the political operations of the
Hindus in the All-India Congress.
The Indians in the army in India
today number about 100000, with
10000 British troops at the least.
However, 100000 of these are kept
on the northwest frontier, along the
mountainous no-man's land between
Peshawar and Afghanistan.
The Indian government maintains
this northwest frontier army In order
to prevent marauding by the noun
tain tribes, the Pathans, who in the
past, before the establishment of a
restraining army, used to dash out
Of their high retreats and raid the
lowland villages. They are believed
to be waiting for japanese inva-
sion of Eastern India to give them
the chance for new raiding. India, in
turn, is determined to disappoint
them by repelling the temptation to
remove the northwest frontier troops.
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