INDIA: Walkout

Meeting this week at India’s magnificent capital at New Delhi, the Legislative Assembly, top representative body of the Indian Government, found itself shy 26 of its 141 members. The 26, members of the Moslem League, most important political party in India after Gandhi’s India National Congress, had walked out in a body, led by the League’s astute president, monocled Mohamed Ali Jinnah.

Stated reason for the walkout: to protest against the way Britain and the British-run Indian Government were handling the defense of India in World War II. But the gesture meant more than just that.

Fifteen months ago India’s Viceroy, Lord Linlithgow, made a desperate bid for Indian cooperation in the Empire war effort by setting up a kind of Cabinet, an Executive Council, eight of whose 13 members were “distinguished and representative Indians.” Neither the Congress nor the Moslem League were consulted in the move, and both have since freely charged that all key jobs in the Council went to Britons, that the Indians picked were tried-&-true yes-men for the British Raj.

When Jinnah and his followers took their walk last week, most observers felt that it was chiefly a delayed-action protest against the Council. But it also seemed clearer than ever that if Britain wants more than lukewarm cooperation in fighting World War II, she must do more than talk about settling India’s problems.