NEWS OF THE WEEK
THE critical state of political feeling in India is demonstrated by the decision taken this week that the Viceroy should come to London to confer with the British Government, and that five Indian political leaders, Pandit Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbai Patel for the Hindus, Mr. Jinnah and Mr. Liaquat All Khan for the Moslems, and Sardar Baldev Singh for the Sikhs should be invited to accompany him. This is clearly a last throw, and it is already manifest that it has not succeeded. The reasons why the two Congress representatives have refused the invitation to come to London have still to be stated, but it has become plain in the last month that any effective co-operation between the two main parties in India is virtually ruled out, even joint co-operation with the British Cabinet being now past hoping for. The aim of the London visit was plainly to attempt a reconcilia- tion which would make the Cabinet Mission's plan workable, for the conversations would have needed to cover a much wider field than the mere question of " interpretation " of the Cabinet Mission's statement of last May. The position now is that the Congress repre- sentatives will attend the Constituent Assembly on December 9th, but will not come to London, while the Muslims will come to London but not attend the Constituent Assembly—a characteristic antithesis of policies. Whether talks in London with the Muslims alone will be of value is doubtful, unless the effect is to remove Mr. Jinnah's objections to attending the Assembly. The fundamental and deplorable fact is that the experiment of a Congress-Muslim Cabinet has broken down completely, the Congress members being openly bent on getting rid of their Muslim colleagues. The fact that Lord Wavell is freely abused by each party for favouring the other is a convincing testimony to his impartiality, but it is to be feared that neither he nor any other man will be able to prevent new communal outbreaks. The Indian prospect has rarely looked darker.
