GREAT BRITAIN . . . . . . . . . SUPPORTED 311
A good long part of the road to that status has already been covered. The part that remains is comparatively shorter and is also within reach. To give up this advantage in the hope of being emancipated by some supposed friend of India would be an act of folly if not of political suicide for the nation. There is no knowing what would be the fate of India under a new master. No same Indian can advise his countrymen to enter upon a policy so speculative and so uncertain if not disastrous, in its consequences.
Britain’s Duty to India
While it is in the interest of the Indian people to co-operate with Great Britain in this war with Germany, the British also must recognise that they owe certain duties to India the fulfilment of which cannot long be postponed.
The first and foremost duty of the British towards India is to take steps to prepare Indians to defend their country.
India is a country which is exposed to attack from all sides. Yet to-day India is a most defenceless country in the world. By itself it has no resources to withstand any attack from land, sea or air. For its defence it is largely if not wholly dependent upon the aid of the British Army, British Navy and British Air Force. In the Round Table conference it was agreed that the defence of India was to be treated as the responsibility of India and yet nothing so far has been done to give effect to that principle. Much has been talked about opening Military Colleges and Indianizing the Officers’ grades. The Independent Labour Party is frankly of opinion that these are the least parts of this business of training Indians to defend their country.
The most important part of it is to introduce compulsory Military Service in India for all persons within certain ages without distinction as to caste, class or creed. Such a policy alone can succeed in training Indians for the defence of their Country.
The magnitude of India’s manpower is beyond measure. If it is given the requisite military training it is capable of defending not only India but it is capable of defending the whole of the British Empire from any aggressor, no matter how strong. It is, therefore, astonishing that British Government should not think of training the manhood of India for national defence. It is astonishing that Government should call Indians to become combatants only when the war is won and allow them to lapse into unserviceable non-combatants as soon as the war is over.