Evening star., 1946-05-19
Up to the indians

These are days of momentous de-
cision for India. The Moslem League
and the Hindu dominated Congress
party having failed to reconcile
their differences at the recent Simla
conference, the British government
has now worked out plan of its
own in another earnest and historic
effort-the third since the Cripps
mission of 1942-to make Indian in
dependence reality despite deep
and bitter inter Indian cleavages.
At Simla the Moslems continued
to insist upon their proposal to par
tition the country by carving out OF
it separate state of their own to be
known as Pakistan. The reason for
their insistence is that they have
very real fear that their religious.
cultural, economic, political and
other interests would be seriously
endangered by any plan of inde-
pendence which would keep India all
in one piece, giving the much more
populous Hindus an opportunity to
control the government and run
everything
This is the main obstacle which
the new British proposal aims to
meet and overcome, but there are
other formidable difficulties as well.
In the vast and seething complex
that is India, the two chief factions
the Moslems and Hindus - are
themselves faction-ridden. 1t is a
land Of high illiteracy, of clashing
sects, of many different languages
and cultures and of hundreds of big
and little princely states whose
rulers are by no means eager to
surrender their sovereignty. To be
sure. all Indian leaders want inde-
pendence, but they are so far apart
on the form it should take that the
problem of achieving it is one of the
most difficult and explosive in the
world.
1t is against this background that
the British plan must be read. To
begin with, the idea of Pakistan is
rejected, and, though this may cause
the bitterest Moslem opposition, the
reasons for rejecting it-social, ad-
miniStrative, political. geographical,
economic and military seem so
sound and convincing on their face
that it is hard to see how Jinnah's
party can refute them. Instead of
a partitioned India. what is pro-
posed is Federated Union of India.
Under this. the Moslems, without
their Pakistan, would still have their
special interests guaranteed The
central government would act for
all groups, including the princely
states, in matters of foreign affairs,
defense and communications, but
beyond that there would be broad
provincial autonomy, roughly like
that in our own States, but more
sweeping. To put this into effect,
the British would have the Indians
hold a constitutional assembly at
the earliest possible moment and
would meanwhile set up an interim
regime representative of every ele-
ment in the country.
The Congress party, though not
completely satisfied. apparently takes
a favorable view of the plan. The
crucial question revolves around the
Moslems. Given their good will and
cooperation, given the same on the
part of all other native parties con-
cerned, the old dream of a free.
self-governing India-either within
or outside the British Common
wealth-can become real. Otherwise.
as the Attlee government warns.
there may be violence and chaos
with grave consequences for the
whole world. On the record, Britain
has been doing it's best to avert this.
From now on the responsibility will
rest principally on the Indians
themselves.