"No Halfway House." Speech delivered at Gray's
Inn, December 14, 1917.
In the chapter on ideals we have shown that there is almost complete
agreement between the bulk of Indian educated men and the British
authorities as to the immediate goal of Government in India. There is no
such agreement, however, as regards the stages by which that goal is to
be reached, nor on the steps which should be immediately taken to carry
us to the first stage. The four formulas by which Mr. Montagu and Lord
Chelmsford profess to be guided in their recommendations are not
accepted in their entirety by the spokesmen of the Indian people. These
formulas are:
(1) There should be as far as possible complete popular control in
local bodies and the largest possible independence for them of
outside control. (Paragraph 188.)
(2) The provinces are the domain in which the earlier steps
towards the progressive realization of responsible government
should be taken. Some measure of responsibility should be given at
once, and our aim is to give complete responsibility as soon as
conditions permit. This involves at once giving the provinces the
largest measure of independence, legislative, administrative, and
financial, of the Government of India which is compatible with the
due discharge by the latter of its own responsibilities.
(Paragraph 189.)
(3) The Government of India must remain wholly responsible to
Parliament, and saving such responsibility, its authority in
essential matters must remain indisputable pending experience of
the effect of the changes now to be introduced in the provinces.
In the meantime the Indian Legislative Council should be enlarged
and made more representative and its opportunities of influencing
government increased. (Paragraph 190.)
(4) In proportion as the foregoing changes take effect, the
control of Parliament and the Secretary of State over the
Government of India and provincial Governments must be relaxed.
(Paragraph 191.)
There is no difficulty in accepting the first and the fourth formulas.
There is some complaint that the actual steps recommended for immediate
adoption to give effect to the policy of the first formula are not in
keeping with the spirit of the formula and are inadequate. But this we
can reserve for future consideration.
No objection can be taken to the first and the last sentences of the
second formula; though there is a great divergence of opinion as regards
the content of the second. It is maintained by some, and their number
is by no means small,[1] that full responsibility should be conceded to
the provinces at once and that there is nothing in the conditions
mentioned in the report which justifies the postponement thereof.
The third formula, however, is the one about which there is not even a
semblance of agreement. All political parties and all qualified persons
in India (we mean, of course, Indians of Indian origin) are agreed that
the assumptions and presumptions upon which this formula is based are
wrong and unacceptable. Native Indian opinion is fairly unanimous on the
point.
There are some who claim full autonomy at once. There are others who
claim full autonomy except as regards foreign relations, the control of
native States, the Army and the Navy. All insist that a beginning of
responsible Government must be made in the Central Government also, and
point out the absolute necessity of conceding some measure, even if not
full, of fiscal autonomy. They can see no reason why "the Government of
India must remain wholly responsible to Parliament" and why "its
authority must remain indisputable." On these matters Indian opinion
joins issue with the distinguished authors of the report. We will revert
to the subject in another chapter.