(LETTER) Through the columns of your esteemed daily I wish to draw the attention of your readers to some of the inconsistencies of Abul Kalam — the hireling of Caste-Hindu Capitalism. In one of his statements which he is issuing to bolster up his position and leadership, this show-boy Congress President says that the Congress of which he is a figure-head will accept any proposal which opens the way to freedom. The public memory is very short. Does the Wavell Plan offer us anything which the Cripps proposals did not? Did Cripps not offer us every portfolio on the Viceroy’s Executive Council except Defence? Does the Wavell Plan not maintain the Viceroy’s power of veto which Cripps offer did? Still the Cripps offer was rejected by the Caste-Hindu Congress because Pandit Nehru … thought that the Indians should not be content with helping the war-effort against Fascism only by running the Canteens for the Army.

The only difference between the two proposals is that the Cripps offer conceded, though in a roundabout way, the cherished Muslim ideal of Pakistan and the Wavell Plan does not … [T]he Congress … rejected the Cripps offer only because it conceded … the Muslims’ right to self-determination…

S.M. Haroon
Delhi

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2020