The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-11-10

it today is as follows:
 From the British viewpoint their position is not unreasonable. They have been in India for 150 years and, except for the mutiny in 1857, generally speaking, in- ternal peace has been maintained. They have acquired vast vested interests in the country and fear that their withdrawal from India would jeopardize those interests. The great cities of Bombay, Cal cutta and Madras have been built up largely through their initia- tive. They have guaranteed the regime of the Princes, who control territorially about one-third of the country and one-fourth of the population. They realize that new forces are gathering through out the world which affect their hold over India and they have therefore gone out of their way, so they believe, to offer freedom to India as soon as there are signs that the Indians themselves can form a secure government. This the Indian leaders have been un- able to do and the British feel that they nave done all that they can in the circumstances. Behind the door as MT. Churchill, who gives the impression that person. ally he would prefer not to trans fer any power to an Indian gov- ernment either before or after the war and that the status quo should be maintained.
 FREEDOM MOVEMENT
 '"The Indians, on the other hand, are caught in the new idea which IS sweeping over the world, of freedom for oppressed peoples. The Atlantic Charter has given the movement great impetus. Your speeches have given encourage ment. The British declarations that freedom would be granted to India after the war have brought the picture of Indian in- dependence as never before in the thoughts of the entire Indian in- telligentsia. Unfortunately, as the time approaches for ending the war, the struggle for political pres tige and power between the par ties has increased and this has made 1t more difficult than ever for the leaders to be willing to reach a compromise agreement. And furthermore, Gandhi and all Congress leaders, not to mention the fifty or sixty thousand Con- greSS supporters, are in jail and, as Congress is the strongest poN- tical party, there is no one avail able to speak of it.
 There is thus 8 complete
 deadlock and I should imagine
 that the VicerOy and Churchill
 are we'll satisfied to let the dead
 lock remain as long as possible.
 That is, at least, the general
 impression in most Indian cir
 cleS.
 "The problem, therefore, is: Can anything be done to break this deadlock thorugh our help? It seems to me that all we can do is to try to induce the Indian poli- tical leaders to meet together and discuss the form of government which they regard as applica- ble to India, and thus to show the world that they have sufficient intelligence to tackle the prob- lem. We must not assume that they will adopt the American or British systems. In view of the importance of guaranteeing pro- tection to the minorities, a ma jority form of government may not be applicable and a coalition may prove to be the only practi- cal way of guaranteeing internal harmony. We cannot suppose that the British government can or will transfer power to India by the scratch of a pen at the con- cluSion of the peace conference less there is an Indian govern men fit to receive it. The ques- tion remains. therefore, how to in- duce the leaders to begin now to prepare for their future respon- abilities.
 ''There is, perhaps, a way out
 of the deadlock which I ss1g-
 gest to you, not because I am
 sure of its success, but because
 I think it Is worthy of your
 consideration.
 PHILLIPS PLAN
 with the approval and blessing of the British Government, an invitation could be addressed to the leaders of all Indian politi- cal groups on behalf of the Presi- dent of the United statea. to meet