WHAT CONGRESS AND GANDHI HAVE DONE TO THE UNTOUCHABLES : APPENDIX X 345
Government as a basis for discussion and you must realise this if you have read Mr. Amery’s statement in the House of Commons on July 28th last. They are indeed very similar to the proposals made by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad to Sir Stafford Cripps in April 1942 and His Majesty’s Government’s reasons for rejecting them are the same as they were then.
- Without recapitulating all these reasons in detail, I should remind you that His Majesty’s Government at that time made it clear:
( a ) That their offer of unqualified freedom after the cessation of hostilities was made conditional upon the framing of a Constitution agreed by the main elements of India’s national life and the negotiation of the necessary treaty arrangements with His Majesty’s Government:
( b ) That it is impossible during the period of hostilities to bring about any change in the Constitution by which means alone a “National Government” such as you suggest could be made responsible to the Central Assembly.
The object of these conditions was to ensure the fulfilment of their duty to safeguard the interests of the racial and religious minorities of the Depressed Classes and their treaty obligations to the Indian States.
It was upon the above conditions that His Majesty’s Government invited Indian leaders to take part in an interim Government which would operate under the existing Constitution. I must make it quite clear that until the war is over responsibility for defence and military operations cannot be divided from the other responsibilities of Government and that until hostilities cease and the new Constitution is in operation, His Majesty’s Government and the Governor-General must retain their responsibility over the entire field. So far as the question of India’s share of the cost of the war is concerned, this is essentially a matter for settlement between His Majesty’s Government on the one hand and the Government of India on the other, and existing financial arrangements can only be reopened at the instance of one or the other.
It is clear in these circumstances that no purpose will be served by discussion on the basis which you suggest. If however the leaders of the Hindus, the Muslims and the important minorities were willing to co-operate in a transitional Government established and working within the present constitution, I believe good progress might be made. For such a transitional Government to succeed, there must before it is formed, be agreement in principle between, Hindus and Muslims and all important elements as to the method by which the new Constitution should be framed. This agreement is a matter for Indians themselves.