Mr. Gandhi and Lord Wave11
Mr. Gandhi can hardly have expected that the substance of Lord Wavell's reply to his letter would have been other than it was, since his proposals included extreme demands almost identical with those which were rejected by the British Government during the Cripps negotiations. There was in Mr. Gandhi's letter nothing constructive that the Viceroy could have accepted, though perhaps some sympathetic allusion to the Jinnah-Gandhi negotiations, and a warmer expression of desire for settlement would have been tactful. But Mr. Gandhi has really offered no new basis for discussion. He demands independence now, though it has been made abundantly clear that this could not be given during the war or until Indians have agreed among themgelves upon the new constitution. He demands that all governmental responsibilities 'except those directly concerning military operations shall be immediately handed over to a National Government responsible only to the Central Assembly— a proposal which Mr. Gandhi knows cannot be accepted. In effect, he is asking that India should be handed over to an Indian Govern- ment controlled by Congress, and this at the very time when in negotiation with Mr. Jinnah, he was appearing to concede Moslem claims for Pakistan. Lord Wave11 had no alternative but to reject this inadmissible proposal. He wisely said that there is no reason why preliminary work on the framing of a constitution should not begin as soon as the Indian leaders will co-operate to that end. But is it really the case that the Government itself can take no initiative with a view to breaking the deadlock? It certainly cannot make the Indian leaders agree, but it might, as was suggested by a contributor last week, take the lead in bringing them together, and even in summoning a representative conference to discuss terms of agreement on the principles of a future constitution. If unity is possible, cannot something be done to promote it? If it is not, is there not some advantage in having that demonstrated publicly?
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