9
*The Marquess of Linlithgow to Mr. Amery
Telegram, MSS EUR F 125/23
IMMEDIATE 24 October 1942
No. 47-Q.C. My telegram No. 46-Q.C.
( a ) Following is telegram received from Members of Council.—
Begins. We have read with considerable surprise the statement@ said to have been made by the Secretary of State in House of Commons that “the present European members were being retained merely because of difficulty in finding suitable Indians for posts”. If the Secretary of State has been correctly reported we beg to dissociate ourselves wholly with the position taken up by him. In our considered opinion there is no difficulty whatsoever in finding suitable Indians for any positions in Government of India and we have to remind the Secretary of State that if Congress and the Muslim League had accepted the Cripps’ proposals there would have been at the Centre today a wholly Indian Government with very wide powers. We have to add that statement in question is entirely at variance with facts and constitutes an affront to Indians and we have to request Your Excellency to communicate these our views to the Secretary of State. We also desire in this place to call attention to the Secretary of State’s declaration that he was not prepared in the present circumstances to permit interviews with Congress leaders and to enquire where the members of the Government of India come in on this policy and whether they have any say in it. In this connection Lord Simon’s statement in which he describes members of the Government as
*The Transfer of Power, Vol. III, No. 116, p. 153.
@ For texts of statements by Mr. Amery and Lord Simon referred to in this telegram, see No. 119.