Failure Again in India.

The failure of the Simla, India, conference and of Lord Archibald Wavell's efforts to reconstitute his Executive Council to include acknowledged Indian leaders was not unexpected. It must not be taken to mean that the Indians cannot get together or that India is not fit for self-government. To the question of self-government or freedom for India the Wavell plan had no relevance. It made no change in the constitutional set-up, as the White Paper itself acknowledged. The Viceroy retained his absolute power in the shape of the veto. The checkerboard of princes and princelings was kept, and they remained beyond the jurisdiction of the Executive Council. The WavelI plan was purely at interim measure, without prejudice, as it said, to the future constitution of India. Indian political leaders envisaged all that was the replacement of the political pariahs who constitute the present ExecutIve Council.