The Balance in India
India moves slowly towards self-government in a steadily mounting crescendo of communal disorders. The new Cabinet, with its five Muslim League nominees, met the Central Legislative Assembly on Monday. The atmosphere of the Assembly itself was outwardly calm, but communal partisans were at blows within a few yards of the Council House. This situation is symbolic of the present con- dition of India, for though the members of the Assembly in Delhi are on the right side of violence, and the rioters and hooligans of Calcutta and East Bengal are on the wrong side, neither of them is far from the line which separates peace from strife. A week ago the murderous wave of knife assaults, acid throwing, arson and looting, seemed likely to die away, only to break out again last Saturday. And a week from now the rather tense calm reigning between Moslems and Hindus in the Indian Coalition Government may be broken. There is a whole bagful of pretexts for a quarrel. The Muslim League Ministers have never promised to co-operate with their Hindu colleagues. Mr. Jinnah still remains outside the Cabinet, whereas his duty to India, as distinct from his duty to the Muslim League, clearly requires that he shall be inside. The League's principal Minister, Liaqat Ali Khan, has declared that he does not regard Pandit Nehru as official leader of the Cabinet and that the League Ministers are not committed to Cabinet responsibility. The Congress leaders continue to behave in a rela- tively conciliatory manner, but they, too, have to face a series of exacting tests of their sense of responsibility. It should be sufficient that they are also tests of India's ability to govern herself, but it remains to be seen whether that is enough to dispel fixed bad habits.
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