The United States of India.

UNDER this heading Mr. Bernard Houghton, retired I.C.S. raises the question regarding India’s political goal. Is the future Government of India to be a unitary or a federal polity? As he rightly points out, the authors of the Montagu-Chelmsford report sound an uncertain note. This, in his opinion, is unfortunate, because “we have had in India enough and more than enough of drift and of fitful delay”, and “the hour for definite decision has struck.” We differ from this view. The leaving of the issue open for the present is the wisest thing the authors of the report could have done. It is Indian opinion that must determine the form of the Indian polity and Indian opinion has no real voice in the Councils of the Government at present. Had Mr. Montagu and Lord Chelmsford decided the issue now, the decision would have been theirs and not India’s self-determination.