Sisters and brothers in India! Latest news reaching us from India is to the effect that the Congress Working Committee decided last night to accept Lord Wavell’s invitation to participate in the Simla Conference. To those who are acquainted with the present attitude of the Indian National Congress this news has not come as a surprise. Referring to the opinion inside the Congress Working Committee, the political correspondent of the Associated Press of India has reported as follows:The opinion among the Congress leaders about the Viceroy’s proposal divides itself into three groups. The first party is led by Mr Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai, who take strong exception to the use of the term ‘Caste Hindus’ in the Viceroy’s broadcast. The middle group is led by Mr Nehru and Maulana Azad who, not being satisfied with the quantum of power contemplated to be transferred, take the view that the scheme can be given a fair trial as an interim measure, provided there is sufficient possibility of advancing India’s demand for national independence and to improve the lot of the poor. The third group, led by Mr Rajagopalachari and Mr Bhulabhai Desai, feel that the terms of reference of the Simla Conference are so wide and elastic that all fears of the Congress are groundless. They advocate that the Congress should accept the proposal without picking holes in it and give it a fair trial and thus demonstrate the determination of the Congress to get on with the business.
I cannot judge from this distance if the analysis of the political correspondent of the Associated Press of India is correct or not, but I would not be surprised if it is. In fact this analysis conforms with what I said yesterday about the political character of the present Congress Working Committee. It appears that the Radical Democratic Party has condemned the Simla Conference on the ground that Labour representatives have not been invited to the Conference. Judging from the analysis of the political correspondent of the Associated Press of India the opinion of the Radical Democratic Party on this question is not supported by any member of the Congress Working Committee. The argument seems to be that even while agreeing to accept the invitation to the Simla Conference, the Working Committee has not committed itself in any way. But, this argument cannot seriously be accepted because the offer as it stands and the implications of its acceptance are clear. Everybody who attends this Conference will have to accept the policy of whole-hearted participation in the coming campaign in East Asia, and the Congress will have to repudiate the policy it laid down regarding participation in the war when the Congress Ministries resigned office in 1939. Moreover, everybody attending this Conference will have to accept the present constitutional position of the Viceroy and Governor-General in the Executive Council and will have to accept the humiliating position of functioning as mere advisers and not responsible ministers. Lord Wavell has made no secret of this and in fact he has made it quite clear that it is he who will appoint the members of the Executive Council. So, the members of the Executive Council will be responsible not to the Legislature but to him, and there is no question of majority rule or of collective responsibility in the Executive Council. Consequently, everybody who attends the Simla Conference will have to give up the demand for independence. They will have to give up also the usual demand for a National Government at the Centre, responsible to the Legislature, and will have to be content with Indianisation of the Executive Council functioning within the framework of the 1935 Act. Presently, there can be no doubt whatsoever that acceptance of the invitation to the Simla Conference after all this will amount to giving up the fundamental principles and policies of the Indian National Congress, including the ‘Quit India’ resolution for which so many of our brethren and comrades are still rotting in prisons. Moreover, it is very unfortunate and painful that not a single member of the Congress Working Committee has put forward the demand for the release of all political prisoners, prior to negotiating with the British Government, although many of them have issued statements dealing with certain points Lord Wavell’s offer.
I said in my talk yesterday that the working committee is an executive body and is not constitutionally empowered to decide the destiny of so many million people and to commit the country to a course of action which is contrary to the fundamental ideals and policy of the Congress. Since the Working Committee does not represent all sections within the Congress and since there is no agreement on this question inside the country, there is no moral not to speak of legal justification for the Working Committee to deliberate on such vital issues behind the back of the All-India Congress Committee and the Congress as a whole. There is also no justification for the Working Committee to accept on its own responsibility the invitation to the Simla Conference especially when the whole offer is contrary to the fundamental principles and policy of the Congress.
I beg and implore Mahatma Gandhi and the Working Committee, even at this late hour, to pause and ponder over this great responsibility which they are taking upon themselves by ignoring the All-India Congress Committee and the Congress on such a momentous occasion. I fail to understand why the Working Committee should act in such an unfair manner. That Lord Wavell and the British Government are in a hurry I can understand. They are acting under three motives, firstly, Lord Wavell and the British Government know that the Indian people are overawed by the recent military successes of the Anglo-Americans and that the Indian people are at last beginning to realise that the Anglo-Americans are bound to win this war. Lord Wavell and the British Government want to exploit this psychological moment and strike while the iron is hot. They are afraid that after a few months the whole world will realise that despite the collapse of Germany the overthrow of Japan in the Far Fast is not an easy proposition. Secondly, Lord Wavell and the British Government must somehow bamboozle these leaders and secure at least 500,000 Indian troops and vast quantities of military supplies for Britain’s imperialist war in the Far East. Thirdly, Lord Wavell and the British Government must come to some agreement with the Indian leaders before July 5, when the general elections in England will commence. All these three motives afford sufficient explanation as to why Lord Wavell and the British Government are in a beastly hurry. But that is no reason why the Congress Working Committee should fall into their trap. In this connection I would like to repeat what I said previously as to why Lord Wavell is moving heaven and earth in order to come to an agreement with the Indian leaders before July 5.
Though the Labour Party has agreed to the terms of Lord Wavell’s offer, the main responsibility of putting through that offer rests with the Conservative Party who are in a majority in the present Government. If, therefore, Lord Wavell succeeds in arriving at an agreement with the Indian leaders, it will be an achievement for the Conservative Party, and will help to swell the votes of the Conservative Party’s candidates at the polls and thereby help the return of that party to power. If, in spite of Lord Wavell’s success, the Conservative Party fails to secure a majority and if the Labour Party is returned to office the Conservative Party will at least be able to prevent the reopening of the Indian issue by the Labour Cabinet. If, on the other hand, Lord Wavell fails, his failure which will be the Conservative Party’s failure, will help the Labour Party at the polls. The Labour Cabinet will then have to take up the Indian issue again, because in the domain of foreign affairs the Labour Cabinet must justify itself by achieving something which the Conservative Party failed to do. And, if in spite of the failure of Simla Conference the Conservative Party returns to power, it will be forced to reopen the Indian issue. If the Conservative Party is back in office, and if the deadlock in India continues, the Indian question will remain an international issue, and the Indian issue will have to be brought up before the international conferences of the future including the Big Three conferences then to be held.
Now I want my countrymen to understand that the Conservative Party will do everything possible to prevent the Indian issue being brought up before an international conference. Ultimately, there is no doubt whatsoever that if Lord Wavell’s offer is turned down by us, as I hope it will be, there will be another opportunity for bargaining with the British Government after the general elections, no matter which party secures the majority on the 5th of July. The fact that a long and bitter campaign in the Far East lies ahead of the British Government is an additional guarantee that Britain will have to placate India.
I want to make it clear before I proceed further that there is no question of bargaining except that the British quit India. But, since there are so many Indians at home who are thinking in terms of a compromise with British imperialism, it their duty to consider when and how to make this bargain. On this point I am quite sure that the best time for bargaining is after July 5 and though there is very little hope of the Labour Party recognising India’s independence, it would be possible to strike a better bargain with that Party. A compromise with the British Government on the issue of Lord Wavell’s offer can be justified only on two conditions. First, if there had been no chance of winning independence. Secondly, if this had been the last chance for arriving at a compromise with the British Government. As to the first condition, I may say that in spite of the recent successes of the Anglo-Americans, India has now a better chance of achieving her independence than ever before. As to the second condition, I will repeat that no matter which party in Britain is called upon to form a Cabinet, India will get another chance and a better chance of bargaining with the British Government after July 5.
In my view there are three factors, the immediate effects of which will help India to win her independence by the end of this war. They are (i) resistance to British imperialism inside India; (ii) armed struggle against the British outside India; and (iii) diplomacy in the international field. Even moral resistance inside India will be enough. India must remain an international issue, and our diplomacy in the international field should be directed towards mobilising support for Indian independence. India must take the assistance moral and material of those nations which are fighting Britain and are, therefore, her enemies. So far as armed struggle is concerned, in spite of our recent reverses in Burma the main forces of the Azad Hind Fauj will not give up the struggle. We shall continue fighting, and we shall fight to the last man and to the last round. We in East Asia can take a much more objective view of the war situation than our countrymen at home, who are easily misled by British propaganda, and have begun to believe in an exaggerated view of the strength of the Anglo-American powers. If our countrymen at home believe in our word they should accept our reading of the war situation and change the policy of the Congress in accordance with this.
Those Congressmen who are thinking of accepting Lord Wavell’s offer should look ahead and prepare themselves for the day when they will have to provide half-a-million Indian troops as cannon-fodder for Britain’s imperialist war in East Asia, and they should also be prepared for fighting their own countrymen in the Azad Hind Fauj, who are prepared to fight the British wherever they happen to meet them. Even if these Congressmen are not ashamed to take up arms against their brothers and sisters in the Azad Hind Fauj they should at least refuse to provide half-a-million Indian lives as cannon-fodder for the perpetuation of the British Empire. To those who doubt that India can achieve her independence by the end of this war, I should like to say that India will never get another opportunity like this for fighting for her freedom. As soon as the war ends in the complete victory of the Axis Powers, as it inevitably will, India will become free and be able to take her proper place in the New World Order which will replace the Anglo-American domination of Asia. And, even if Japan were to lose, India will have another opportunity of bargaining with Britain. But, to agree to the mass-slaughter of our youth and the waste of our material resources in fighting Britain’s imperialist war will be a criminal folly. My appeal to you, therefore, is to reject the Wavell offer and continue your struggle till the end of the war and then choose your course of action in the light of circumstances. I earnestly appeal to Congress leaders not to be stampeded into a compromise.