Himalayan Times (1957)

Septemb r 1, 1*67

Eleven

THE COMMONWEALTH

(Continued from page 8)
books of British rule bad con-
tained. Instead she re-disco-
vered the pleasant things and
took pride in her association
with the ideas and institutions
of political freedom and demo
oraoy that are so unquestion-
ably the British contribution
to the story of human civiliza-
tion. Not only that—India
practises them. As Lord Atlee
told his people the other day,
India to-day is the largest
working and operating demo*
oraoy in the world. She has
had two general election* already
and her people have taken to
the British type of democracy
almost as a duck fwould take
to the water. There are more
Englishmen in India today than
there were in the heyday of
British rule in this country;
and there is more appreciation
to-day of Hritish thought and
ways of l;fe than there ever
was in the past. With Britain
fast shedding her colonial heri-
tage and with the Common-
wealth adding to its roll more
African and Asian members, a
new era is opening for Bri-
tain's leadership and influence
on the world stage. It is this
ideological identity that ties
India to Britain. Of course,
,there are some economic ad-
Vantages, and some political
advantages; there is also the
fact of many Indians having
had 1 'i g association with Bri-
tish educators and universities
and many a happy personal,
relationship with Britih men
nnd women. But all this w not
the really basic cause of India's
staying in the Commonwealth.
The basic cause is much more
imponderable. If you don't
mind my n«ing such a phrase,
the tie is spiritual rather than
material. It rests in the world
of id ia-1 and attitudes . rather
than in that of commodities

and services. The sooner this
is realised by the British peo-
ple the better it would be not
only for *he enduring stability
of the Commonwealth but also
for enabling the British nation
to obtain that place of prestige
and influence, in fact, leader-
ship on the world stage, which
the Indian people, for |(one,
would certainly not "grudge her.

I know that the Congress
Party fought the British and
the Congress Party rules India
to day But the British should
also remember that this very
Congress Party' has faithfully
adopted for their country the'
political and leg .1 constitutions
that constitude the proudest
part of British heritage. The
British people should also know
that it is the Congress Party
and its leader Mr Nehru-—their
involuntary guest for many
years .in British prisons on
Indian boM— who is the stou-
test champion of the British
connection. It is he, who fa as,
words and his deeds, helped
to wipe out from the memory
of the non British world the
moral stigma that long, years
of colonialism had attached to
the British name. Those British
people who sneer at Mr. Nehru
and would like India to leave
the Commonwealth should pay
a visit to India and see for
themselves the life and ideas
of the people who constitute
today more than half of the
entire population of the Com-
monwealth.

Before concluding I roupt
say a few words about what
T conceive to be the future of
the Commonwealth and especial-
ly that of its most senior mem-
ber, Great Britain. I do not
think that all Commonwealth
roada must lead to Washington
nor that the Commonwealth
must lean on the I nitod States
for its security I believe that
the Commonwealth will grow

in number and prestige and
would stand out in the world
as a mosaic of white, brown,
blaok and yellow peoples of
sovereign nations linked in free*
dom and democracy, Ii will
no longer be Empire Common-
wealth; it will just be a Com-
monwealth; and the empire, to
the extend it remains a memo-
ry, will be a selective memory
of pleasant things characteristic
of the best of British culture
and civilisation rather than uae
of the unpleasant concomitants
of colonial. rule. The. Common-
wealth will stand for racial
equality, poace among nations,
and economio development of
the underdevelop countries_ of
the world; and it will also work
for them aB long as it is ne-
cessary to do so In such a
Commonwealth, Britain will rank
as leader by virtue both of
her seniority and of .her con-
tribution, political and economic,
to the welfare of the peoples
of the Commonwealth. That
is the picture I have of the
Commonwealth and I speak aB
an Indian,

Of course, all this is pos-
sible only provided the British
people and those who lead them
cease being frustrated at tho
loss of their old time power,
abandon any attempt at resto-
ration of British influence By
resort to military alliances and
carving of spheres of influence.
Instead, they should rest con-
tent in the secure leadership
that moral prestige, economio
aid, and the comradeship of
multi-racial Commonweath will
give them in world affairs I
do not see any reason why
they should not do so.—B.B.C.

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