Double Noncooperation

The British Raj last week gave one of India's leading statesmen a resounding rebuff. Gaunt, distinguished Chakravarti Rajagopalachariar ("C. R.") has been the outstanding Indian exponent of all-out Indian effort against Japan (TIME, Nov. 2, et ante).

It has long been a cardinal principle of the Raj that Hindu-Moslem agreement is necessary before independence can be granted to India. No one has worked harder for such agreement than C. R., a Hindu and member of the Indian National Congress party. Recently he interviewed Moslem League President Mohammed AH Jinnah, felt that the results of their conversation should be reported to the Congress party's imprisoned Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Last week C. R., in white robes and sandals, his sunglasses on his aquiline nose, called on the Viceroy of India, Lord Linlithgow, and asked permission to see Gandhi. The tall, cool Viceroy refused.

C. R. & Churchill. C. R. had already been disturbed by Winston Churchill's comments on the North African successes. Churchill had said:

"Let me, however, make this clear, in case there should be any mistake about it in any quarter: we mean to hold our own. I have not become the King's First Minister in order to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire. For that task, if ever it were prescribed, someone else would have to be found, and under a democracy I suppose the nation would have to be consulted."/-

To this, C. R. replied in an interview given to New York Times Correspondent Herbert L. Matthews:

"The Indians will come to dislike Allied successes if they merely increase British arrogance, as evidenced by Mr. Churchill's speech. Will America fight for India after this war, if during the war you allow yourself to be dictated to by Mr. Churchill? The American Government can tell the British they must solve the Indian problem. You can win the war without us, but you cannot win it the way you will want to win it."

C. R. & Moslems. C. R.'s belief in the possibility of Hindu-Moslem agreement became more than a hypothesis when the Moslem League's mouthpiece, Dawn, spoke up loudly on his behalf: "The political situation, bad as it is, would not have been worsened by Mr. Rajagopalachariar's meeting Mr. Gandhi. . . . The very idea of victory while holding India on a leash must be agreeable to the die-hards and Blimps who would love to indulge in reminiscences about India being easily controlled with the small finger of the left hand. . . . All the unrest we have is not of Congress' making. . . . The Government feel . . . that they are going to make a success of their job by a policy of double-distilled noncooperation from the British side."

/- Britain has not had a general election since before Munich.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.