Mr. Gandhi Resigns •
The resignation of Mr. Gandhi from the leadership of the All-India Congress Party is an event of note. The reason is the Mahatma's disappointment that Congress as a whole is not endorsing his view that the present war, like all wars, must be opposed on the ground of non-violence. The acceptance of the resignation by the Congress Working Committee, now in con- ference at Bardoli, shows that Congress has not closed the door on active co-operation in the war-effort. That is to be discussed more fully by the All-India Congress Committee at Wardha on January 15th, though the Working Committee has displayed its conventional intransigence by declaring that there can be no vo:untary support for " arrogant Imperialism, which is indis- tinguishable from Fascist authoritarianism." Meanwhile India's actupl war-effort is developing remarkably. November figures reached a record total, and 5o per cent. of the orders of the Eastern Group Council for supplies for the Middle East and Far East armies are placed in, and being executed by, India. What is needed above all things is a touch of realism in political matters. As Mr. M. S. Aney, a former Congress member and now a member of the Viceroy's Executive Council, said at Bombay last month, if the Centre and Provinces could be efficiently administered by Coalition Governments during the war all the arguments against self-governing status would fade and vanish. There could be no shorter or better way for the attainment of India's full desires. Mr. Nehru and Mr. Jinnah have it in their power to achieve that—and it may come in spite of them.
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