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From Labor Action, Vol. 10 No. 16, 22 April 1946, p. 4.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for the Encyclopaedia of Trotskyism On-Line (ETOL).
What’s going on in India behind the scenes? For several weeks now, a mission from the British Cabinet has been in that independence-hungry country, negotiating with the various parties. But so far, the whole matter has been very silent, and the nature of these negotiations is a deep secret. What kind of raw deal is being cooked up?
Will the Congress Party bargain away the demand of the people for complete, unqualified, unconditional independence, without a single string attached to it? This is what the British mission would like to do. They would like to weight in advance, for their advantage, any Indian Constituent Assembly convened to write a new constitution for the country. Will the conservative Congress leaders (Gandhi, Nehru and friends) accept a constitution-making body elected according to BRITISH terms?
And what’s happening with Mr. Jinnah, so-called leader of the Moslems of India? He is talking about “civil war,” if he doesn’t get his demand for a division of India into Hindu state and Moslem state. Is there anything behind this talk, or is he just complaining, in advance, about the deal to be made at his expense?
These and many other questions cannot be answered yet, nor will they be answered until the whole story comes out of hiding to where it properly belongs – in open discussion before the 400 million Indian people, the people whose future is at stake. The program of the Indian Trotskyists sums up the real desires and aspirations of these people:
In a word, let the imperialists quit India and then keep their hands off!
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Last updated: 24 January 2019