A Set-Back in India
The " hitch" that has arisen in the negotiations in India is one more of a series of incidents which over years have almost justified belief in the insolubility of the communal problem. Hopes were raised high when the Moslem League decided a week ago to accept the proposals of the Cabinet Mission regarding the interim adminis- tration and the drafting of a permanent constitution. Mr. Jinnah is understood to have been largely responsible for this satisfactory development, and the fact that the League contraverted the declara- tions of the Mission regarding the impracticability of Pakistan did not seriously detract from the value of its decision on the main issue. But in the background lay the stipulation that has wrecked agreement in India for decades. The Muslims insist on equal representation with Congress in the interim Cabinet, while the Congress Party insist with equal vehemence that in view of their superior numbers equality of representation cannot be tolerated. The assent of Congress to the proposed agreement is in consequence still withheld, and the general Congress attitude is said to be harden- ing rather than otherwise. The efforts to achieve a compromise— Mr. Gandhi has talked at length with the Viceroy, and Mr. Rajagopalachari, whose conciliatory gifts are considerable, has been sent for from Madras to New Delhi. A breakdown when agree- ment seemed so near would be little less than a tragedy and there is room for the exertion of effective efforts yet, but relations between the two great parties are not such that the Muslims will be easily persuaded to put themselves at the mercy of a Congress majority. The fundamental fact is that there can be no hope of an assured settlement till a majority of Indians are ready to regard themselves as Indians first and Hindus or Muslims second. But that does not exclude the possibility of a compromise arrangement on which something better may ultimately be built.
