India's Path
It would be a mistake to allow the outbreak of violence in Calcutta to have undue influence on the crucial negotiations for the forma- tion of an interim Government. Ghastly as are the results of four days of mob violence, in terms of dead and wounded, property destroyed, and supply and sanitary services reduced to chaos, they must not obscure the fact that what is at stake in the present con- versations in Delhi between the Viceroy and Pandit Nehru, the Congress president, is the whole future of India. Even the facts that the rioting began with a hartal, which was part of the new Muslim policy of direct action, that Bengal has a Muslim League Government, and that Mr. Jinnah, the Muslim League leader, has so far refused to co-operate in the effort to form an interim Government of India—even this must not lead to over-concentration on the apportionment of blame. Mr. Jinnah has strongly condemned the resort to violence in Calcutta, and the hartal produced nothing of the kind elsewhere in India. The paramount need now is for calm at the centre and the Muslim leaders must see that any suspicion that they favour violence, at a time when Congress is showing a most remarkable spirit of conciliation and responsibility, could count heavily against the Muslim cause. It is reported that Mr. Nehru has drawn up a Cabinet list including six Congress representatives, five non-League Muslims and three or four others representing minorities. If Mr. Jinnah can be convinced that accep- tance of the five Muslim seats by League members will not put him at the mercy of Congress, a road will be opened which can lead through an effective interim Government and the making of a permanent constitution by Indians to complete self-government. It is a long road and a hard one but communal strife (which will always remain possible for many years to come) must not be allowed to bar it at the outset.
