Vithalbhai Patel, Sardar Patel

MRS. GANDHI AGAIN ARRESTED

SWARAJIST DISCOURTESY

At a meeting of the Bombay Municipal Corporation Mr. V. J. Patel the Swarajist president announced that he had declined invitations to public functions arranged in the honor of the forthcoming visit of the Viceroy. "In accordance with his convictions and without meaning disrespect to the Viceroy as representative of the King." - (Reuter)

HYDERABAD "POLITICAL WONDERLAND"

Moslem Ruler Wants State to be Third Dominion

From ALAN MOOREHEAD, "THE SCOTSMAN" SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Hyderabad, Tuesday. Hyderabad is a State one half the size of France with a population of 18,000,000 and a treasure in gold, money, and precious stones which is vaguely estimated at £400,000,000,000. The destiny of the State, the people, and the treasure is at this moment being decided in circumstances which one can only describe as haphazard, confused, and full of oriental mysticism.

Alone of all the Indian States Hyderabad has not acceded to either Pakistan of the Indian Union. It is the largest, the richest, and the most powerful State. And yet there is no British representative whatever here or, for that matter, the representative of any other foreign Power.

Hyderabad has no elected Government. The Opposition is in prison. It governs itself through an ancient feudal monarchy and a British political machine which has now been left running on its own momentum, unsupported, in a void. It is a political wonderland of a kind spectacular even for Asia.

The way of the visiting newspaper correspondent is not easy. HE arrives to find a country which is outwardly more prosperous and tranquil than almost any other in India. These quiet streets are the negation of crisis Neither in the bazaars nor in the Government buildings would you ever guess that Hyderabad is struggling for its existence and even mobilising in a vague sort of way against a possible invasion.

ALL POWERFUL NIZAM

The stranger is received with nothing but kindness. It is only when he begins to make inquiries about what is happening that the facts seem to evaporate in front of him; and presently he begins to realise that no official here can speak with authority, that the only real controller of events is the Moslem ruler himself, His Exalted Highness the Nizam.

And the Nizam is at prayers. He will remain at prayers, mourning the death of the grandson of the Prophet throughout the remainder of this week and part of next week as well. Everything stops for Mohurram, which is the most solemn observance of the Mohammedan Year.

The truth is, of course, that all this State is gripped by the long habit of obedience, of eventless days endlessly repeating themselves as inevitable a Royal house which has ruled in peace for two hundred years.

When the policemen's whistles blow sharply in the streets and the Nizam, a thin and lonely little man in an old hat, comes blowing along in a very old motor car on his way to the Mosque, when one roads on civic buildings "His Exalted Highness's Post office" or "His Exalted Highness's Bank" or "By His Exalted Highness's permission" when one sees the special Hyderabad stamps and the special currency notes when one hears stories of fabulous rooms at the Palace filled with sacks of slowly-decaying pearls guarded by 1500 Arab tribesmen-one must realise that all this has obtained the complete and apathetic acceptance of the people because thins have always been like this.

The modern read London buses, the excellent airport, the telephones, and the clean paved streets are simply a twentieth-century incrustation.

In Hyderabad every other day is a wedding or festival, a mourning or a funeral in the strict Wordsworthian sense; this sets the pace of life. These are the real things. The rest is a matter for the Nizam and for God.

CASE FOR INDEPENDENCE

Nevertheless, it is possible with patience to extract the fact of Hyderabad's case for independence. My authorities for what follows are a number of official letters which passed between Earl Mountbatten and the Nizam, and a talk with Nawab Moin Nawaz Jung, the State's chief negotiator, just before he left for Delhi this week in a last attempt to reach an understanding with Pandit Nehru - Prime Minster of the Dominion of India and Mr. Vallabhbhai Patel (Sardar Patel) Minister for Home and the States.

Hyderabad is different from every other Indian States because it is large and rich - larger and richer than most of the members of the United Nations-because it has a separate treaty with Britain, because it is an island of law and order on this continent, and because 80% of its inhabitants are Hindus and 20% Moslems.

In these circumstances it wishes to remain independent as a third Dominion in India. It is quite prepared, however, to fuse its economy, its defence, its communications, and its foreign policy with India. The only thing it will not give up is its sovereignty. It will not place itself under the entire control of the Government in Delhi.

Hyderabad to go on quoting the official case is being threatened and bullied by Delhi. A blockade, especially in petrol has begun. Indian troops are gathering on its borders in a menacing fashion. It has been deserted by Britain. It can get nothing out of Earl Mountbatten in Delhi but the repeated advice "You should accede to the Dominion of India." And Mr. Vallabhbhai Patel (Sardar Patel)  keeps making threatening speeches.

All this is unethical and unfair. It would be tedious to go into all the rebuttals of these points, all the devious negotiations which have dragged on between Hyderabad and Delhi for the last four months.

They even exhausted the powers of Sir Walter Monckton, the Nizam's legal adviser Sir Walter has returned to England.

What the Nizam is endeavouring to patch up now is a compromise, a standstill agreement which will preserve the status quo for another twelve months but this will solve nothing.

THE REAL ISSUES

To an outsider the real issues appear to be those of force. The Nizam, his ancestors, and a small group of Moslems have maintained power in this Hindu State since the eighteenth century, and they do not want to give it up. They cannot be independent because they have no ports and no effective army. They cannot accede to Pakistan because Pakistan is far away. They observe that the Indian Army has got itself heavily involved in Kashmir and it gives them some hope that they can go on playing for time.

To put it bluntly, the Nizam's best chance lies in the India and Pakistan so weakening them selves by quarreling with one another that they will leave Hyderabad alone.

In many ways one must sympathise with him. He feels, no doubt that the Delhi Government is a ramshackle structure full of political arrivists, communists, and other dangerous cranks.

Why should he surrender to them? Why throw away the traditions and dignities of two hundred years? What guarantees will be given? How shall his treasure be guarded? Will not riots break out between Moslem and Hindu once his power is gone? In the end will he not be forced to abdicate? Why have the British deserted him?

There can be only the gloomiest answers to these questions. And that is why Hyderabad is so peaceful this morning. It is the peace of intense anxiety.

1. Nariman's conduct and attitude in 1934 election.


2. Election of leader to Bombay Parliamentary Party in March 1937.

India Congress Leader's Arrest

DELHI NEWSPAPERS RAIDED

Several police raids were made on Congress premises in Delhi yesterday and property and pamphlets were seized (reports the British United Press)

The branch offices of the India National Congress, the Women's Congress offices, the offices of the "Hindustan Times" and those of the Jawahar Press, as well as the residences of the editor and publisher of the newspapers, were visited and 2,000 copies of a pamphlet were seized.

This pamphlet was entitled "Eight Week's Interlude," and was written by Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, former President of the Indian National Congress, who had been prosecuted for his activities in the passive resistance movement.

Kharak Bahadur Singh, who was with Gandhi in the raid on the Dharsana salt pans, was arrested at the railway station while on his way to meet Mr. Vallabhai Patel at Ahmedabad

We are really sorry that the BIll to amend the Medical Registration Act, which tbe Hon. Mr. V. J. Patel introduced in the Bombay' Legislative Council, was thrown ont on its first reading. The voting was 20 for and 24 against the Bill. A rather amusing incident occurred when the Council passed to the next item of business. Mr. Patel asked the PresIdent whether the three gentlemen who had been appointed to the Council as “experts" for the special purpose of the Medical Bill, were entitled to take part in tbe other business before the Counctl. His Excellency replied that they were not, and the three gentlemen had to make a hasty exit from the Council Chamber. But for tbese three gentlemen,
the majority against Mr. Patel's Bill would have been only one. The position of the “expert" nominated in such circumstances is somewhat ridiculous, and we hope that, in future, whenever "experts" are appointed, it may be possible to so arrange things as to enable them to make their exit in a less conspicnous manner. We have beard some flippant Similes regarding the part of the three medical "experts" at the legislatIve fanction in connection with the Medical Bill, and it is due to the gentlemen whom Government are pleased to honour in that way that they should not be exposed to cheap raillery. The provision in Mr. Patel's Bill which evoked opposition was that which sought to exclude expressly the study, practice, management of institutions, and professional association with practitioners, of “the Ayorvedic, Unani, or other indigenous systems of medicine," from the category of “infamous conduct" under the Act. The Medical Council in Bombay seems to have taken action against a gentleman who conducts an Ayurvedic College for "infamons conduct," and the Bill sought to provide against similar contingencies in future. Sir Mahadev Chaubal’s argument that there is an appeal against the Medical Council’s decision to Government, and against Government’s decision to the High Court, is not to the point which is that it is improper for a body of medical men exclusively of one school, organised under the auspices of and subsidised by Government, to declare it “infamous” conduct on the part of any medical man even to associate as a consultant with an Ayurvedic or Unani practitioner. “Infamous” of course, has a technical significance, but even so, if this pretension does not mean that the Ayurvedic and Unani doctors are to be ragarded as “untonchables” and pariahs of the profession, we do not know what it does mean. The phrase “or other indigenous systems of medicine” was, of course vague and lent itself easily to attack. Sir Mahadev Chaubal took advantage of it and raised, or attempted to raise, a laugh in the Council by referring to naka dolacha vaidya, wayside eye doctors, who, according to the Hon. Member, swarmed about the gates of Government House in Poona, as likely to be included in Mr. Patel’s category. If it is the fact that these vaidyas haunt the road near Government House, His Excellency, with his constant consideration for those needing help, as splendidly illustrated by his placing Government House at Mahableshwar at disposal of the families of officers who have gone to the front, will, perhaps, consider the desirability of establishing an eye hospital or dispensary in the neighbourhood of Government House whose splendours would seem to have an injurious effect on the eyes of those who frequent its vicinity. If Sir Mahadev had been less anxious to score a superficial point, and more desirous of helping to improve this piece of entirely reasonable legislation, he might have suggested to Mr. Patel, in Select Committee, to insert the word “recognised” in the loosely-worded phrase. “Other recognised indigenous systems,” will mean systems which have a literature behind them, and which are taught and learnt in a systematic manner. The result of the voting in the Council on Mr. Patel’s Bill is to leave matters worse than they were before it was introduced. The Ayurvedic and Unani systems have been pronounced by several speakers, official and other, to be quackery. The average man, no doubt, will still prefer to be healed by a quack to die unattended out of deference to the susceptibilities of the Medical Council. He will not be deterred by the verdict of the Council from resorting to the practitioner who can treat his ailments at a charge within his means. We have ourselves known at least one case, for which practitioners of the official system could do nothing, so thoroughly cured by an indigenous doctor (a Mahomedan) that subsequest of medical examination by the official doctors failed to reveal the least trace of the rheumatism. When the whilom suflerer told the examiners that he has had a bad attack of rheumatism they said it could not have been rheumatism, as every attack leaves some trace of it on the patient’s heart. This Mahomedan gentleman, belonged to the family of hereditary physicians to the Raja of Taujore. He was not himself a direct descendant but he had married the daughter of the Court Physician. This lady had acquired such a competent know ledge of her father’s science that when her husband, the practitioner, felt any difficulties about a case, he used to go behind the curtain which separated his zenana from his consulting room, and take the advice of his wife as to the course of treatment to be followed.

The only effect of the Bill being thrown out by the Council, will be to dater the medical graduates of our Universities from interesting themselves in the indigenous systems. This is a pity, because it is they that can best sift the chaff from the grain, and assimilate to Medical Science, which belongs neither to the East nor to the West, all that is valuable in the Indian systems. Any one who ventures to openly associate himself with Ayurvedic or Unani studies may be branded for “infamous conduct”. but we are sure that this will not deter all of them from taking up the study of the old systems. Even if there is nothing in them, it is better to have it conclusively established that this is the case. We, of course, have no sympathy with orthodoxy in any form. We have been recently reading a very suggestive work entitled “Professionalism and Originality,” in which the writer maintains that professionalism kills originality. Qualified medical men who are stigmatised as quakes, because of their study of the indigenous systems, may take comfort from the fact that the great Pasteur had to suffer similar indignity at the hands of the professionals of his time. Nobody wants to supersede modern anatomy or surgery by the ancient methods. But there are other departments of the healing art, in regard which modern medical science is quite as empirical as the more ancient systems. It is here that the study of the indigenous systems is likely to be most fruitful. His Excellency th Governor threw out the suggestion that the indigenous systems must have their own seperate organisation. This can be done only if Government extend to them some measure of patronage as in the case of the modern orthodox system. His Highness the Nizam’s Government supports both the modern and the indigenous systems by official recognition and liberal grants. We should be glad if the Government of Bombay follow this excellent example. Only in that case, can His Excellency’s suggestion become a practical proposition.

Indian Social Reformer : October 14, 1917 Page : 76

Mr. V. J. Patel said they had met there under the shadow of a great calamity. Deshbandhu Das, the greatest political leader of India, had gone. He was the Mayor of Calcutta under the new municipal Constitution and he sacrificed his all in the cause of his country. He was a great soul and it was with a heavy heart that he (Mr. Patel) rose to move the resolution asking the Corporation to adjourn the meeting.

Mr. Patel then moved:

1. That the Corporation place on record their sense of the heavy loss sustained by the country in the sad and untimely death on the 16th June 1~25 of Deshbandhu Chitta Ranjan Das Mayor of the Calcutta Corporation, whose ardent patriotism, deep and abiding love for the Motherland, selfless devotion to her cause and noble self-sacrifice in her service won for him the esteem and admiration of his countrymen who regard his death at the present Juncture as a national calamity.
2. That a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the Corporation of Calcutta and to the family of the deceased, with an expression of the Corporation's sympathy in their sad bereavement.
3. That as a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased the Corporation do adjourn Without proceeding to the transaction of business.

Continuing he said It was impossible for him to express in words his feelings on this occasion and he would content himself merely with moving the resolution.

Indian Opinion : JULY 24 1925

READS REACH LHASA

Peiping Radio Report

STAFF CORRESPONDENT AND A.A.P.

London, Nov, 9 - Peiping Radio, in a broadcast in Tibetan last night, said that the "People's Army" had entered the Tibetan Capital of Lhasa.

In Lhasa itself an interim regime led by a senior monk Minister. Sawong Lama has replaced the Cabinet of the former Regent Takta Rimpoche.

Partial to the Communists, the new regime is considering Peiping proposals regarding Tibet according to reports.

The proposal provide that : -

• China would not interfere in the internal administration of Tibet but would be responsible for its defense, external affairs, and communications.


• China would station a token force in Lhasa and appoint military advisers to reorganise the Tibetan forces;


• China would not interfere with the Dalai Lama and the Patchen Lama.

The interim regime has ordered the Tibetan troops to offer no resistance to the invading forces.

Meanwhile, in Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh-formerly the United Provinces-security measures have been taken along the two State's borders with Tibet.

NON-RECOGNITION

The Indian Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Sardar Patel, said in New Delhi to-day that India could not recognise the new three year-old King of Nepal.

The boy was proclaimed King on Tuesday after his grandfather, the King of Nepal, took refuge in the Indian Embassy in Katmandu capital of Nepal.

Addressing a public meeting Mr. Patel called on the Indian people to unite and strengthen themselves in the face of "new dangers or fear of dangers" arising from the trouble in Tibet and Nepal.

He said that the internal feud in Nepal had laid wide open India's frontiers in the north to outside danger.

Architect of Swaraj