Where India Stands
The Cabinet Mission is back after three months of intensive work in India and the balance sheet of its achievement is about to be cast up. There are many items to its credit. It has been finally estab- lished that it is the British wish and intention that India shall go her own way. The Indians have no reason to doubt it. Even the Americans are impressed, to the extent that their attitude to India is determined by facts. The Mission also managed to bring Congress _and Muslim League leaders together, a feat which Mr. Jinnah's blinkered advocacy of a separate Pakistan had at one time made most unlikely. Most important of all, assent has been secured to a scheme for an Indian union and the election of a Constituent Assembly to determine its details. The breakdown of the attempt to get agree- ment on an interim government supported by all parties is the only failure so far. To the extent that it absolves the Indian political leaders from any immediate responsibility it is a serious failure, for the acceptance of that responsibility is the key to the whole prOblem. Moreover, since this position was brought about by Congress opposi- tion and since the appointment of a Government of officials has given Mr. Jinnah an excuse to express once more a suspicion of British good faith the omens are not good. It is rather too much to hope that the interim Government will have a quiet time. The election of a Constituent Assembly and the successful completion of its work, in an atmosphere of suppressed excitement and incipient famine, can hardly go by without mishap. Already the communal differences which were ,all too prominent during the Mission's stay have pro- duced violence at Ahmedabad and there may be more to come. But inexorably the burden of government is shifting towards the Indians themselves.
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