‘Triveni’
is devoted to Art, Literature, and History. Its main function is to interpret
the Indian Renaissance in its manifold aspects.
‘Triveni’
seeks to draw together cultured men and women in all lands and establish a
fellowship of the spirit. All movements that make for Idealism in India as well
as elsewhere, receive particular attention in these columns. We count upon the
willing and joyous co-operation of all lovers of the Beautiful and the True.
May
this votive offering prove acceptable to Him who is the source of the
‘Triveni’–the Triple Stream of Love, Wisdom and Power!
…………he
that laboureth right for love of Me
shall
finally attain! But, if in this
Thy
faint heart fails, bring Me thy failure!
–THE
SONG CELESTIAL
After a series of preliminary talks with the
leaders of Indian parties, the members of the British Cabinet delegation are
taking a brief holiday in Kashmir. From the 25th of April onwards, they will
enter on what is believed to be the most critical and decisive phase of the
negotiations connected with the transfer of power from British to Indian hands.
Alternating between hope and fear, the Indian people, leaders as well as
followers of different political parties and groups are looking forward to a
settlement of the main constitutional problems. To set up an interim Government
at the center in place of the present unrepresentative Executive Council, to
determine the shape and functions of the constitution making body, to work out
the details of a treaty between India and Britain, and, finally, to provide for
the period of transition before the British power withdraws entirely from
India,–these are the tasks to which the negotiations on either side are
applying their minds. But before any positive results can be achieved, the
Congress and the Muslim League have to be brought together and a formula for a
reasonable compromise suggested. Sir Stafford Cripps is busy exploring the
ground, and it is being vaguely hinted that the Delegation have a scheme of
their own, which they have already placed before the Presidents of the two
organizations.
The cry for Pakistan has become insistent. And
Pakistan is to be a full-fledged sovereign state with complete control over
defense and foreign relations, and with a corridor connecting its eastern and
western areas. Calcutta must be thrown in despite its overwhelming Hindu
majority, because Pakistan must have a good port on the eastern side. Assam has
to be included in the new state for strategic reasons, though the Muslims are a
minority in that province. The Muslim legislators assembled in a convention
early this month let loose a flood of wild and violent oratory which augurs ill
for the future. It is noteworthy, however, that non-League Muslims representing
important sections of the community, as well as Sikhs, Christians,
Anglo-Indians and Parsis have with one voice supported the Congress case for a
united India with a strong Central Government and a single Constituent
Assembly. The Princes and Ministers of Indian States have generally thrown in
their weight on the same side. This consensus of opinion on the outstanding
constitutional issue, taken with the conciliatory and helpful attitude of the
Congress, ought to convince the British Delegation of the essential fairness of
the nationalist demand for autonomous Provinces and States enjoying residuary
powers, and held together by a Central Government administering a minimum list
of subjects of vital concern to the entire nation. The Congress has gone the
furthest limit in conceding the right to carve out new homogeneous units, and
the right of individual units to secede after a plebiscite.
If, in spite of the united efforts of the
peace-makers and of the men of good will on all sides, this hurdle cannot be
crossed, and the Muslim League continues to insist on a sovereign Pakistan and
two constituent assemblies for Hindustan and Pakistan, the matter can only be
decided by the British Government in the light of the information gathered by
the Delegation during the last few weeks. Any resort to international
arbitration at this stage will involve further delay and a fresh round of
argument and negotiation. Now, more than ever, in the chequered history of
India, the time factor is all-important. A settlement, however illogical and
imperfect, and imposed by the British, must be deemed superior to a decision by
an international tribunal which postpones the day of the transfer of power.
Getting into the saddle is the main thing. Once in power, Indians will acquire
the wisdom and the experience needed to shape the country’s destiny.
In provinces where the Congress has won a majority
of seats, the old Premiers and Ministers are back in office, and in effective
power. Madras, which won a glorious victory at the polls, was reduced to the
ignominious position of being without a leader. The Congress Legislative Party
met day after day, and adjourned without transacting any business. Congressmen,
whether in the Legislature or outside, began to wonder if the tussle between
the Congress High Command and the local Congress legislators would lead to a
continuance of the Advisers’ regime for which parliament had made timely
provision. The trouble started with the summoning of the three Presidents of
the Provincial Congress Committees of Andhra, Tamilnad and Kerala to Delhi
without allowing the party to meet on the 7th of April to elect a leader of its
choice. At Delhi, they were advised, implored and almost commanded to choose
Sri. C. Rajagopalachari, though C. R. had not contested a seat in the
legislature and had even announced his decision to “leave the scene.” C. R’s
superior administrative talents and his utter selflessness had secured for him
the support of Gandhiji and the Congress President. But when the Presidents of
the three P. C. C’s made it clear that C. R’s leadership at this juncture would
not commend itself to the legislators whose main concern it was to choose the
provincial Premier, the Congress President need not have gone the length of
recommending C. R’s name. Later, when the legislators turned down the
recommendation, not by a snap vote but by a substantial majority of 148 to 38,
the President ought to have permitted the legislators to proceed with the
election of their leader unfettered by further directions. But he wanted a
panel to be submitted, out of which he offered to select the leader himself.
This is contrary to all constitutional practice and infringes the rights of the
elected representatives of the people.
The High Command exists to supervise, correlate and
advise Congress legislative parties all over India, so as to ensure uniformity
of policy and a certain measure of inter-provincial harmony. But intervention
at every step and virtual dictation are destructive of the first principles of
democracy. In the present instance, if a panel had been submitted and the
Congress President chose one out of that panel, the Governor of Madras could
refuse to invite the leader so nominated, on the ground that the ‘leader’ did
not necessarily command the confidence of a majority in the Assembly. But,
fortunately, the Congress President permitted the legislators to elect a single
leader, if they preferred that course to the sending of a panel. He thereby
restored to the Madras legislators their normal constitutional right to
exercise their free choice and brought to a graceful end an awkward situation.
Sri. T. Prakasam, the new leader, will soon announce the personnel of his
cabinet. Leaders of different groups in the Congress Party have promised their
support to Sri. Prakasam in the responsible and exacting task that lies ahead.
It is to be hoped that the bitterness of recent controversies, personal and
provincial, will be smoothed out, and a determined effort made to put Madras in
its proper place, as the model amongst Congress administered provinces. To Sri
Prakasam we offer loyal and affectionate greetings. May his Premiership be the
crowning glory of a life of unexampled sacrifice and dedication to the nation’s
service.
A LEAGUE OF SOUTH INDIAN WRITERS
At this time of Gandhiji’s visit to Madras last
February, a conference of South Indian Writers was convened with a view to
establishing personal contacts between the literary artists working in Tamil,
Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. Sri Masti Venkatesa Iyengar, Vice-President of
the Kannada Sahitya parishat, presided and representatives of the different
linguistic cultures spoke on the recent developments in their literatures. At
the end a fruitful Suggestion was thrown out, that a league of South Indian
Writers be formed, and annual gatherings of writers held under its auspices, so
that the atmosphere of good will and mutual appreciation created at Madras
might become a permanent feature of South Indian cultural life. Thus came into
being, the Dakshina Bhasha Lekhaka Samaja, with Sri. Venkatesa Iyengar as
President and Sri. K. Sampathgiri Rao as Secretary.
“Triveni”, along with the Indian P.E.N. centre, has
striven from many years to bring together the litterateurs of all Provinces of
India and to make their achievement known to a wider public. This new move is,
therefore, most welcome. In addition to occasional gatherings, which are
valuable from a social point of view, the Samaja may take the earliest
opportunity to translate into each of the South Indian languages the best
literary works, classical and modern, from the rest. In particular, it might
address itself to the work of preparing anthologies of song and verse,
short-story and one-act play, which may be published also in their English
versions for the benefit of people outside South India. When a writer in one
part of India wishes to translate into his mother-tongue the best work in the
other Indian languages, he is usually handicapped by lack of knowledge of what
are the most representative productions in those languages. The Samaja can help
in this matter by publishing from time to time lists of writers and such of
their works as may be worthy of translation. This selection should be made in a
spirit of impartiality and a sympathetic understanding of the literary aims of
the authors, and, more especially, of the younger writers who are seeking to
strike out new paths and experimenting in new ways of expression.
AN ELDER STATESMAN
The passing of Rt. Hon. V. S. Sreenivasa Sastry at
the age of 71 removes from our midst an elder statesman who, in many ways was
one or the finest fruits of the contact between England and India. Essentially
educationist and scholar, an unrivalled speaker and expositor, he was called upon
to play the political role when the mantle of Gokhale fell on his shoulders,
and the liberal school of politicians in India needed articulation in the midst
of the sweeping tide of congress politics under Gandhian aegis. He went as a
semi-official ambassador to the British Dominions and America and filled the
office with great distinction and dignity. This did not add to his popularity
with his own countrymen, but he raised India’s name in the estimation of those
with whom he came in contact by dint of his personal gifts. He was the first
Indian Privy Councilor: and the first Agent-General in South Africa on behalf
of the Government of India–a place in filling which for once the Government of
India and Gandhiji saw eye to eye! But these official favours and semi-official
roles did not extinguish his high and robust patriotism and his innate
independence of outlook. Some of the most resounding passages of eloquence
expressing his sense of righteous indignation are to his credit in connection
with the unfair treatment meted out to Indians in Kenya and in castigating the
Government of India when it launched an offensive of repression on popular
movements in the country.
Sastriar belonged to a generation that had grown up
to adore the English language and set great value on mastering its subtleties
and nuances. Himself a master of English idiom and expression, he showed
something more than ordinary partiality to those who achieved similar
distinction in the mastery of English diction. Many things said by Pandit Jawaharlal
Nehru, for instance, went against his grain and struck his as ‘audacious’, but
the Pandit’s impeccable English called forth his unstinted praise!
Sastriar was essentially a man of peace and good
will, and conflict, political or otherwise, which brought about a hectic
atmosphere of bustle and strife repelled him. It was this ‘sweet
reasonableness’ which made him highly critical of the technique of direct
action, and Gandhian vows and ‘self flagellations’. Despite this difference in
temperament between him and Gandhiji they bore an unparalleled affection for
each other. Their deep and abiding friendship constitutes one of the most
touching episodes in contemporary Indian life.
K. S. G.