It remains for the Government of India to deal with the allegation that
His Excellency summarily rejected the proposal for a conference,
although the terms put forward by the conference at Bombay and accepted
by the Working Committee of the Congress were quite in keeping with His
Excellency's own requirements as indicated in his speech at Calcutta.
How far this is from being the case will manifest from a comparison of
his Excellency's speech with the terms proposed by the conference. His
Excellency in that speech insisted on the imperative necessity, as a
fundamental condition precedent to the discussion of any question of a
conference of the discontinuance, of the unlawful activities of the
non-co-operation party. No assurance on this point, was, however
contained in proposals advanced by the conference. On the contrary,
whilst the Government were asked to make concessions which not only
included the withdrawal of the notifications under the Criminal Law
Amendment and Seditious Meetings Acts and the release of persons
convicted thereunder but also this release of persons convicted of
offences designed to affect the loyalty of the army; and the submission
to an arbitration committee of the cases of other persons convicted
under the ordinary law of the land, there was no suggestion that any of
the illegal activities of the non-co-operators other than hartals,
picquetting and civil disobedience should cease. Moreover, it was
evident from the statements made by Mr. Gandhi at the conference, that
he intended to continue the enrolment of volunteers in prohibital
associations and preparations for civil disobedience. Further, Mr.
Gandhi made also it is apparent that the proposed round table conference
would be called merely to register his decrees. It is idle to suggest
that terms of this character fulfilled in any way the essentials laid
down by His Excellency or can reasonably be described as having been
made in response to the sentiments expressed by him.
Impossible Requests.
Finally, the Government of India desire to draw attention to the demands
put forward in the concluding para of Mr. Gandhi's present manifesto,
which exceeded even the demands made by the Working Committee of the
Congress. Mr. Gandhi's demands now include: (1) the release of all
prisoners convicted or under trial for non-violent activities; (2) a
guarantee that Government will refrain absolutely from interference with
all non-violent activities of the non-co-operation party, even though
they fall within the purview of the Indian Penal Code, or in other words
an undertaking that Government will indefinitely hold in abeyance in
regard to the non-co-operators the ordinary and long established law of
the land. In return for these concessions he indicated that he intends
to continue the illegal and seditious propaganda and operation of the
non-co-operation party and merely appears to postpone civil disobedience
of an aggressive character until the offenders now in jail have had an
opportunity of reviewing the whole situation. In the same paragraph he
re-affirms the unalterable character of the demands of his party. The
Government of India are confident that all right thinking citizens will
recognise that this manifesto constitutes no response whatever to the
speech of His Excellency at Calcutta and that the demands made are such
as no Government could discuss, much less accept.