THE
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INTERPRETED 38
standing fact which has so far emerged
from the violent action of the Congress
party has been its nonrepresentative char-
acter and powerlessness to throw into con-
fusion the normal peaceful life of India.”
With new Japanese troop concentrations
near the Burma-India border, China be-
came alarmed at the situation, and Lauch-
lin Currie, President Roosevelt's envoy to
China, sent word to Washington that the
Chungking government desired mediation
in India by the President.
“The reasons,” says Time, ‘for Chinese
anxiety and that of all United Nations, in-
cluding Russia and the United States, are
at least fivefold: (1) only through India can
fichting China be supplied; (2) only from
India can the United Nations launch a
campaign to recover Burma; (3) control of
India means control of shipping in the Bay
of Bengal and the Indian Ocean; (4) India’s
position enables United Nations’ air power
to strike east or west; (5) Indian supply
routes to Iranand Russia will be increasingly
important if Russia's southern armies are
defeated.” —September 21, 1942.
In its issue of September 14, Time men-
tioned “a growing rumble” which “could
be heard through the artificial silence of
strict censorship.” Herbert L. Matthews in
a dispatch to the New York Times from
New Delhi, India, quoted Sir Reginald
Maxwell, Home Minister of the Viceroy's
Council, as describing “an orgy of destruc-
tion of communications and other govern-
ment property, with whole districts isolated
for days on end.” He reported of the
United Provinces that “a very large part
of the railway systems in this area were
put out of action.” The Province of
Bihar, the Home Minister said, being stra-
tegically situated would be a crucial point
during the coming months, in the whole
Indian problem. Edgar Snow, cabling from
Bombay to the Saturday Evening Post, and
A. T. Steele. reporting to the Chicago Daily
News from New Delhi, mention a great
“growth of anti-British feeling among the
Indian people.”
What the outcome will be of the impasse
between the British and the Indian Na-
tional Congress party none can tell, but the
very critical situation, with the fate of the
three hundred fifty-two millions of India’s
inhabitants hanging in the balance, to say
nothing of the far-reaching results to the
rest of the world, certainly points to the un-
mistakable fact that the world has come
upon perilous times. While Britain and
the world are involved in war, there are
those who have a purpose of their own to
serve.
Britain offered India a voice in the de-
fense of the country, and later a place in
the Commonwealth of Nations similar to
that occupied by Canada and Australia.
But the Indian National Congress party
was determined that in the midst of war
NOVEMBER, 1942
immediate steps should be taken to frame
a new constitution for India, and formulate
a new nationalist government. This was
deemed by Sir Stafford Cripps, representa-
tive of the British Government, to be
utterly unsafe at a time when, as he said,
the encmy is at the gate. He refused to
commit the British Government to such a
program.
“Of course,” he said, in a statement to
the people of India broadcast April 11,
“every mdividual and organization would
have liked the Draft Declaration to express
his or their point of view, but this if it had
been done would inevitably have been re-
jected by others. . . . Seme day, some-
how, the great communities and parties
in India will have to agree upon a method
of framing their new Constitution. I regret
profoundly for the sake of India for whom
I have deep and admiring friendship that
the opportunity now offered has not been
accepted.” —* International Conciliation,”
June, 1942, pages 332, 333.
In a statement to the press, Sir Stafford
Cripps said: “India is threatened. All who
love India as I love India and you love
India must bring their energies, each in his
own way, to her immediate help. . . .
America is doing all she can, and now India
must devote herself wholeheartedly, with
special effort in every field of activity, in
¥ Drawing room in
the palatial residence
of the Aga Khan al
Poona, one hundred
twenty miles south-
east of Bombay,
India. Ttwasin this
palace-like building
that Mohandas
Gandhi and other
Nationalist-All- [n-
dia-Congress leaders
were ““imprisoned.”’
They were arrested
in Bombay on Sun-
day, August 9.
defending her soil and protecting her
women and children from those ghastly
horrors that have befallen her Chinese
friends and neighbors.”—“ International
Conciliation,” June, 1942, page 331.
The situation in India reminds us of the
words of an ancient Bible prophet, who,
speaking of the times in earth’s history just
before “the God of heaven” should “set
up a kingdom, which shall never be de-
stroyed,” said the nations would not be able
to “cleave one to another.” Daniel 2:
43, 44.
We are also reminded of the words of
Christ recorded in Luke 21: 25, 26 where, in
describing the signs which would precede
His second coming, He said there would be
“upon the earth distress of nations, with
perplexity, men's hearts failing them
for fear, and for looking after those things
which are coming on the earth.” But the
Saviour did not leave the world hopeless.
His mission was not to condemn the world,
but that “whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting
life.” Therefore, to His disciples He said:
“When these things begin to come to pass,
then look up, and lift up your heads; for
your redemption draweth nigh.” Verse 28.
That promise comes ringing down the
centuries, and should give cheer to every
troubled heart.