Lord Willingdon arrived in India on April 17th. Bombay, behind
the glitter of official ceremony, gave her former Governor an unusually demonstrative welcome. The new Viceroy was sworn in on the following day ; he paid a short visit to New Delhi on Monday, and is expected in Simla on May 1st. The political atmosphere is predominantly one of rather uneasy expectation. Gandhi, a sick man, has been forced to abandon his projected tour of the Bardoli district. The Hindu- Moslem breach looks at least as dangerous as it did before the Karachi Congress. The 400 Nationalist Moslems from all parts of India who met last week at Lucknow unanimously passed several more or less constructive resolutions, chief among which was one favouring joint electorates as a basis for Federal and Provincial Legisla- tures ; but the conference was so little representative of vital elements in Moslem opinion that small significance can be attached to the harmony of its proceedings. The anxiety with which the community views the approach of the Moslem festival of Bakr-Id is, according to the Times special correspondent, shown by the recruit- ment of special constables and other measures which can only be interpreted as precautionary. Congress condones by its inaction the civil disobedience in Gujerat ; judged by the inflammatory speeches of its president, Mr. Vallhabai Patel, its true attitude is far from non- committal.
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