Nehru Out

Few Indian leaders have fought so hard, spent so much of their personal fortune, endured such jail sentences in the cause of Indian nationalism as has Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Harrow- and Cambridge-educated Hindu Brahmin lawyer. Although calling himself a Socialist, Pandit Nehru has long played ball with Mahatma M. K. Gandhi's group of Rightists controlling the Indian National Congress, has compromised repeatedly, has twice been elected to the Congress presidency.

Last week Pandit Nehru refused any longer to compromise. Shortly after the recent re-election to the Congress presidency of Subhas Chander Bose, Bengal Leftist leader, over the opposition of M. K. Gandhi, the Mahatma withdrew his support from the organization he had long nurtured. Soon most of the other well-known leaders who had worked with Mahatma Gandhi followed suit. For Pandit Nehru, however, there was a difficult choice: he was doctrinally sympathetic toward Mr. Bose but his personal devotion to the Mahatma was intense. He finally chose devotion and, in a bitter letter to Mr. Bose, resigned.

Far from weakening the Indian independence movement, the resignations were expected to strengthen it. The rank and file of Congress members were already clamoring to oust them. Many of the old Congress high command resigned because they wanted to avoid the ignominy of dismissal. The Mahatma's spiritual appeal has long been powerful with the Hindu masses, but the radical Bose program, based on a frankly anti-British policy, has been strongly supported by Indian workers and peasants. For Britain there were definite signs of storms ahead. British viceroys and governors in India will no longer deal with "reasonable" Saint Gandhi and his followers but with the exacting, "unreasonable" Mr. Bose. And among the things Mr. Bose is known to have in mind to help "persuade" the British in India to give the country more self-rule are civil disobedience, a general strike, no-rent and no-tax campaigns.

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