We shall knoiv how many of the moderates and Liberals
are ready to rally to the piogressive policy of the Viceroy when the proceedings of the All-Parties Conference which began in Bombay on Wednesday are known in detail. The object of this meeting is ostensibly " to• compose communal differences " as the necessary _preliminary to the unity of voice with which India wishes to put forward her claim to equal "status. Mr. Jayakar, a Bombay Liberal, is a notable absentee- Last week he declared that since November the Government had not taken any steps to convince the people that it was in earnest or that " the proposed Conference would lead to results which would satisfy the bulk of Indian opinion." Like so many of his countrymen, Mr. Jayakar forgets that there are two parties concerned in this issue, and that to choose the psychological moment for rallying opinion in this country is quite as important as to appease the pangs of those who are hungry for Indian self-government.
• * * *
Previous page
