The Government and India
The statement on India read in the two Houses on Tuesday leaves the situation substantially as it was. That is satisfactory, in that it indicates to all concerned (and to some not directly concerned) that policy regarding India is, like foreign policy, no party matter. The position was made perfectly clear by the Grippe offer in 1942. From that moment it has been possible for Indians to get together at any moment and draft a constitution for their country. The British Government is pledged in advance to accept it even if it points to complete and immediate severance of all ties between India and Great Britain—not that such a development as that is to be considered probable. In view of the language Pandit Jahawarlal Nehru has been using of late the Government's firm declaration, and its resolve to preserve law and order in India, are as much to be welcomed as its determination to pursue the economic and social development of the country with all zeal. The proposal to send "a goodwill mission" of Members of Parliament to India is sound, though, as Mr. Eden and others pointed out, it will be necessary to define the status of .the mission with some precision. It will be equally necessary, it may be added, to select the members of the mission with dis- criminating care. Not all M.P.'s would be helpful in India at the present time.
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