Bombay, Mar. 25.
In an important statement on the policy of the Congress Party, one of the most prominent Congress leaders expressed surprise that it was anywhere suggested that Congress would take the opportunity of Great Britain's preoccupations elsewhere, in order to embarrass the Empire by action in India, The sympathy of India, he declared, would inevitably be with Great -Britain in any difficulty or conflict in which Britain was forced.
As an autonomous unit and a free association of peoples, India would line up with Great Britain.
The acid test, he concluded, was whether Great Britain was prepared to replace the existing Constitution by one drafted by the constituents of the Assembly.—Reuter.
"We, at least, have as much cause to be interested in the independence of Czechoslovakia to-day as in the independence of Serbia in 1914. Hitler and Mussolini regard Britain as decadent and irresolute. The Government wants to avoid war, but is drifting towards it."
What was required, he continued, was a system of mutual assistance by peace-loving Powers and an offer to Germany and Italy that if they agreed to disarmament and the submission of all disputes to third party judgment, "we are agreeable to the establishment of an international commission to consider griev ances like the question of colonies.
"Amazing Credulity"
Mr. Attlee was surprised that Mr. Chamberlain should show such amazing credulity after the occurrence in Austria and all the professions Britain had of good faith.
Mr. Chamberlain's speech, he said. should have contained a note of resolution and confidence, but it was absent. The Government did not seem to realize the full gravity of the situation and the need for positive, not mere negative, action.
Britain Makes No Threats
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.