LEADERSHIP IN INDIA
SIR,—When I heard that Mr. L. S. Amery had become Secretary of State for India and Burma, I was at first afraid that his attitude to the country of his birth would be reactionary. Then I recalled his lively knowledge of the British Empire ; for I honestly believe that a Cabinet which includes Mr. Churchill, Mr. Amery and Lord Lloyd— whatever their stand on the last Government of India Act may have been—can, and will, face the realities of India. I know, for instance, several Indians who to this day speak of the courage with which Lord Lloyd tackled the problem of the Bombay slums and set out to water the vast Sind desert. He would have been the greatest of all Governors if his Governorship of Bombay had lasted for twenty years and not for five.
Are these three men, whose lives are so intimately associated with India, prepared at this grave hour to put their trust in Indian leader- ship? We have seen King Leopold betray his army. We have seen a Marshal of France betray his country. Betrayal was possible because neither in Belgium nor in France was the leadership broad-based upon the consent of the people. Mr. Gandhi's leadership is personaL Millions follow him willingly. They are free to obey or to repudiate his wishes. His is a fundamentally democratic leadership.
It is now vitally important to reassert our faith in democratic leadership—Mr. Churchill's in this country ; Mr. Gandhi's in vast areas of India ; and the leadership of non-Congressmen in other Indian areas. The time has come, therefore, for the Viceroy to invite Mr. Gandhi to be a member of his own Executive Council. Mr. Gandhi's membership of the Executive Council is no adequate substitute for the restoration of autonomy in the Congress provinces or for the establishment of responsibility at the Centre. But it is something. We ought not to take the sympathies of the Indian people for granted. Why are we not employing the great talents of men like Mr. Sastri and Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru?—Yours faithfully, 3 Strand on the Green, London, W. 4- J. R. GLOFtNEY BOLTON.
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