[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
highly appreciate the yeoman services rendered by the Spectator, not only to India but to Great Britain, in giving impartial publicity to a wide range of views on the present Indian political situation. It is significant to note that, appreciating the gravity of the situation as you do, you have reserved a page of the Spectator for the ventilation of the views of the Moderate .School of Political India.
At the moment, the London Round Table Conference dominates the prospects of the Indo-British political relation- ship. Naturally enough. But let us not forget certain parti- cular facts regarding this. These facts are : the exclusion of the Congress ; the inclusion of the Opposition. The exclusion of the Congress means that the Indian representation is far from complete ; while the inclusion of the Opposition may possibly mean anything but responsible government for India. These two facts—i.e., the elimination of the one and the association of the other—matter most. Upon them the fortunes of the Conference, and ultimately of the Constitution to be framed, entirely depend. None can gainsay that they are evils and must be remedied as such. The business of the Round Table Conference, therefore, is to neutralize these two evils. They can be neutralized only if a Dominion Constitu- tion—i.e., the constitution of the responsible Government—is framed by this Conference.
It is abundantly clear that in so far as the Moderate demands are concerned, they would be satisfied with nothing short of responsible government. So the real onus now lies on the British side. Nothing would be sadder, not to the Socialist Government only but to the British nation at large, than that, owing to the defection of the British representatives, the COn- ference should fail, or even ultimately succeed in evolving a Constitution which little satisfies the Moderates and much less, .or rather not at all, the Congress. In that case, the Constitution has got to be foisted upon an intransigent, nay a hostile, community. How ? At the point of bayonet ? That is absolutely impossible. Let this be a plain warning to the British Government. Let it be careful enough not to play into the hands of the reactionaries and thereby make the whole of India hostile. In this connexion, the -editorial comment of last week's Spectator is of especial interest. It reads : " It would be impossible to govern permanently against the will of Moderate India as well as of Extreme India."—I am, Sir, &c., N. C. MAIIANTI. 186 Melrose Avenue, N.W. 2.
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