BY K. RAMAKOTISWARA RAU ^l

It was hoped that Tripuri would end the crisis in the Congress and pave the way to concerted action for Indian freedom, but that hope has not been realised. President Bose’s illness has prevented a personal meeting between him and Gandhiji; and a lengthy and prolonged correspondence has not helped to ease the situation. Meanwhile, day after day, the papers are full of wild imaginings about the nature of that correspondence, only to be followed the next day by authoritative denials coupled with warnings not to trust ‘these Press men.’ But one thing is clear. The President considers the Pant resolution to be ultra vires and unconstitutional, in so far as it directs him to appoint the new Working Committee in accordance with the wishes of Gandhiji. But he offers, very magnanimously, to overlook this defect and to implement the resolution. The personnel of the Congress Cabinet for the year will be announced before the 20th; its first meeting will take place at Calcutta on the 27th, to be followed by a meeting of the All India Congress Committee on the 28th. Till then, the present stalemate in Congress affairs must continue.

With regard to the composition of the Working Committee, there is a definite cleavage in public opinion. The prevailing view seems to be that the Congress should have a homogeneous Cabinet, meaning thereby that there should be a basis of agreement amongst its members not only with regard to the ideal ends to be achieved but also about the methods and the programme to be pursued for the achievement of those ends. The Tripuri resolution lays down that, in view of the grave situation likely to develop at home and abroad this year, the leadership of the nation in the coming struggle should vest in Gandhiji. This but legalises a well-established convention which has grown up since 1920–that the occupant of the Presidential chair and the leaders of the front rank, who are associated with him as members of his Cabinet, should generally be guided by the advice of Gandhiji. By re-affirming its faith in the methods adopted by Gandhiji, the Congress has, in effect, set its face against any new and revolutionary programme that may be sponsored by Mr. Bose and his friends. It stands to reason, therefore, that the new Cabinet should consist of persons who can be trusted to pull together and to attend to the all-absorbing work of the Congress in a spirit of comradeship.

But this theory of a homogeneous Cabinet fails to take note of the contention that, in a critical year like the present, the various elements that make up the great national organisation should have a chance of coming together and participating in the struggle ahead. An undue insistence on complete homogeneity may alienate those sections of the Congress which, while not being in complete agreement with Gandhiji and his intimate associates, may yet be willing to carry out the programme arrived at after a full discussion. It must be open to them to present their case frankly in the Working Committee and to convert others to their view with regard to the actual working of any programme in its details. It is not an invitation to them to obstruct the Gandhian school of thought at every turn but to make any nation-wide activity more fruitful by their co-operation. From this point of view, it is always helpful to have some ‘Leftists,’ notably from the Congress Socialist Party, on the Working Committee. Though this Party is just now disinclined to accept membership of the Committee, it ought to be possible to persuade them to come in. There may arise occasions when they will be able to make their influence felt; and such influence may be to the benefit of the entire Congress.

Once again, a storm is gathering in Andhra in regard to the question of a separate Province. In spite of the unanimous recommendation of the Legislature and the Ministry of Madras, the Secretary of State has turned down the proposal. The Ministry, however, do not intend to treat the matter as closed; they are continuing to press the Secretary of State. Meanwhile, the visit of Dr. E. Raghavendra Rao to Madras and Bezwada early this month gave the Andhras an opportunity to present their case to one who will soon be in a position to influence the decision of the Secretary of State. Dr. Rao is aware of the strength of the Andhra demand, and, in guarded language, he promised to help towards the solution of a problem which he considers to be a minor domestic one. But the Andhras have all along claimed that this is a major issue, in the sense that it is part of a scheme for the re-distribution of the whole of India on the basis of language. Thus the Maharashtrians, the Kannadigas, and the Mahakoshalites are as vitally interested in that re-distribution as the Andhras. If the Andhras are more insistent, it is because their leaders, since 1913, have applied their minds to the question of linguistic Provinces as an integral part of any scheme of Swaraj that may be fashioned for India. As a citizen of Mahakoshal, Dr. Rao is expected to be a keen advocate of linguistic Provinces. He is not correct in assuming that no new Provinces can be formed till after the advent of Federation, for the transitory regulations provide for the functioning of the present Central Government in place of the Federal Government of the future.

In his recent speeches, Dr. Rao threw out a hint that the Premier of Madras and his colleagues, as well as the Legislature, committed an error in combining the case for an Andhra Province with the larger issue of the division of the whole of the Madras Presidency into homogeneous units according to language. But a Congress Ministry and a Legislature which is predominantly Congressite in its composition cannot fail to emphasise this aspect of the question. The Congress is pledged to the re-organisation, and, for over eighteen years, the Provincial Congress Committees have worked in compact linguistic units. Dr. Rao seemed also to doubt whether the Madras Ministry are throwing their full weight on the side of the agitation for an Andhra Province; but while the correspondence is being carried on, and greater pressure is probably being applied, it is hardly fair to charge the Ministry with in- difference or lack of skill in negotiation. The time has not yet arrived when the Ministry and the Legislators can threaten to resign on this issue, nor is it wise or proper for over-zealous Andhra patriots to talk of Satyagraha if the Province is not granted before the 1st of October. But discontent is growing as a result of the indefinite postponement of the formation of an Andhra Province. The feeling is widespread in Andhra that the Congress High Command has not shown the requisite sympathy and insight. It is up to the new Working Committee, when it comes into existence this month, to address itself to this question and to lend its ungrudging support to a cause which is not only worthy in itself but is tremendously important for the efficient functioning of Swaraj.

The Viceroy’s speech in the Chamber of Princes marks a distinct advance from the point of view of constitutional development in the States, even as the Tripuri resolution on the subject is an advance on that passed at Haripura last year. It is now clear that the struggle in the States is not just an isolated, sporadic outburst in which the Durbars and the States’ people are the sole participants. In any forward steps to be taken hereafter or further negotiations to be conducted, the Paramount Power in the person of the Viceroy, and the Congress through Gandhiji and the Working Committee, must step in and assume the direction of events, if necessary. This is the meaning of the recent happenings in Rajkot. From now onwards, the Indian movement for freedom is an integrated, composite one, the Provinces and the States marching together. Whether responsible government can be established simultaneously in every one of the six hundred and odd States, and whether the administration will be run on identical lines in all of them, are subjects for discussion and adjustment. What does matter is the evident determination of the Congress that the States’ people shall come into their own, that the forum before which they present their case shall be an all-India forum, and, further, that the accident of birth in an Indian State shall not be a bar to the enjoyment of the full rights of citizenship of a free India.

The Viceroy recognises that several of the smaller States are not in a position to maintain an efficient administration, except in combination with other States similarly situated in respect of size, resources and political progress. Such combinations of States will necessarily involve a diminution of the sovereign rights of the Princes in various matters of administrative detail, but the gain in convenience will be immense. And when great changes are contemplated, and the entire Princely Order is in danger of extinction unless they recognise the time-spirit, these small sacrifices have to be made cheerfully. Even the larger States can no longer swear by their treaty rights but must become aware that no treaties can be sacrosanct which militate against the progress of India as a whole. The letter of the treaties must be informed by ‘the spirit that saveth.’

The number of film companies in South India is mounting up. Not a month passes without two or three of them being floated. Everywhere the talk is about shares, directors, dividends. Lawyers give up practice to become promoters of companies, poets turn scenario-writers, and actors of note desert the stage for the screen. Huge amounts are being spent on the production of pictures which cannot claim to be even tenth-rate successes judged as works of art. The music is an odd mixture of Telugu or Tamil words and Hindustani tunes, several of these latter being unabashed imitations from the pictures produced in Bombay or Calcutta. Is all this worth while? Is the superiority of the screen to the stage so indisputable, either it its entertainment value or its artistic achievement? Is it not better to have a few efficient and properly directed companies, producing two or three pictures of high quality every year, instead of organising scores of mushroom companies and producing pictures only likely to lower and corrupt the public taste?

But, quite apart from such considerations, would it not be possible to organise amateur theatrical companies? This could be done with an infinitesimal fraction of the expenditure now incurred on the films. Young persons with a cultivated taste may band themselves, induce gifted authors to write new plays, and stage them in their own locality. They might occasionally tour round the districts, repeating the best of their plays. Simple but artistic costumes, the minimum of scenery and stage ‘properties,’ and good, soulful prose and verse, will contribute to the success–artistic and financial–of these amateur theatres. On moonlit nights, plays may be performed in open places. Thus will the people recover their artistic sensibilities, and learn to love the beautiful and to discard ugliness in its many forms.