Foreign News: All Shades But One

India

The names of 66 Indian delegates of varying physical and political complexion who have accepted invitations to Britain’s October Round Table Conference on India were announced in London last week. Notably absent was the name of any follower of St. Gandhi, any member of his Indian National Congress. The Nationalist leaders, realizing that adoption of any part of their program by the Round Table Conference is virtually impossible, primly withstood British blandishment, refused to attend.

Superficially, the makeup of the conference seemed to live up to the British Government’s description of it: “A representative gathering of all shades of Indian opinion.” If there is no real Nationalist on the list, reporters stumbling among Hindu patronymics found near-Nationalists in the persons of Dr. B. S. Moonje and Chirravoori Yajneswara Chintamani. Both still vociferously plead for Indian administration of Indian affairs, but both have abandoned St. Gandhi’s demand for an independent India.

From British India will come 22 Hindus, 15 Moslems, two Sikhs, a Parsee, a Buddhist, a Christian. Socially the delegates range from the pale and paunchy Aga Khan, smart racehorse breeder and spiritual head of Ismaili Moslems (so holy that priests peddle his used bath water), to lowly Rio Bahadur-Rettamalle Sprinivasan Avargal, representative of Indian “untouchables.” Sure defenders of the most conservative British position at the conference will be ten ruling princes of Indian native states. Well do they know that the existence of their realms, possibly their own existence, is dependent on Britain’s maintaining a strong hold on the residue of the country, British India.