INDIANS ABROAD

IN our last issue, we published a characteristically lucid and forceful statement from Mahatma Gandhi on the subject of the treatment being accorded to our countrymen in South Africa, with particular reference to that most obnoxious piece of legislation now under consideration by the Union Government, the Class Area Bill. There is no man, whether in India or elsewhere, who can speak with greater authority on this subject than Mahatmaji, and when he says that the Bill is “a breach of the compromise of 1914”, to which not only the Union Government and the Indian community of South Africa, but also the Imperial Government and the Government of India were consenting parties, he makes a statement which will not only be implicitly accepted by his own countrymen but which must be treated with respect by all fair-minded persons. But as is characteristic of the Mahatma, he does not let the matter rest solely on his authority, but gives conclusive reasons why his view must be accepted. By the compromise of 1914, he points out, the Union Government undertook not to pass any further anti-Asiatic legislation. The understanding then was that the legal position of Indians would be gradually improved and that the then existing anti-Asiatic legislation would in time to come be repealed. What had happened, however, was just the contrary. Not only had nothing been done to improve the legal position of the Indian residents, but an attempt had been made to administer the existing law in a way adverse to the Indians, and now a further and much worse step was under contemplation in the proposed measure.

#Mahatma Gandhi #South Africa