A New Move in India ?
The -debate on India in the House of Commons last week has had repercussions of some interest in India. For the Opposition, Mr. Wedgwood Benn, Secretary for India in the last Labour Government, while admitting the imprac- ticability of the sununoning of a constitutional assembly to hammer out an agreed scheme, suggested appealing to the Congress Party and the Moslem League to agree to the appointment of some smaller body to examine the possi- bilities of constitutional advance. This suggestion, approved by later speakers in the debate, has been taken up to some extent in the Indian Press, and, what is much more im- portant, has commended itself to Mr. Gandhi, who finds it attractive provided the participants in the proposed dis- cussion are elected by the bodies for whom they are to speak, not appointed by the Viceroy. That is a reasonable stipu- lation, particularly since the findings of the committee would presumably not be binding—though they would have almo,- decisive weight if unanimity were achieved. It must b remembered that the hopes raised some months ago by MI Gandhi's approval of the Viceroy's Bombay speech wer, disappointed. Nevertheless, Mr. Bean's proposal and it reception do open up new possibilities and offer the Vicei an opportunity which he is unlikely to let slide.
Previous page
