The Communal Deadlock The Government has declared its intention of
accepting responsibility for settling the communal problem in India, and declared it just in time to prevent the All-India Mos- lem Conference from deciding on a boycott of the Round Table Conference (thus adopting the same weapon as Congress) as protest against the rejection, or rather the non-acceptance, of the Moslem claims. That is something gained, but the Conference still contemplates vigorous action in three months' time if its demands are not con- ceded by them. The Cabinet has a critical decision to make. The Round Table Conference in London came very near an agreed settlement, but allocation of scats in the Punjab proved the final stumbling-block. Any settle- ment imposed from Whitehall is bound to meet with fierce criticism from one camp or the other; very probably from both, but with Hindus and Moslems falling to agree among themselves no other course is possible. The subject has been so exhaustively explored in recent discussions both in London and at Delhi that all the material for decision is available. Unfortunately, that material consists in the main of two sets of irreconcilable claims. The Govern- ment, as it fully recognizes, is faced with the task not merely of giving a verdict, but of giving effect to it. Fortunately, the general situation in India is easier than it has been for sonic months.
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