1. Mr. WARDLAW-MILNasked the Secretary of State for India whether he will give the House the latest information he has as to the political situation in India?
§ 2. Mr. T. WILLIAMSasked the Secretary of State for India whether he will make a statement in regard to the present political situation in India?
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for INDIA (Sir Samuel Hoare)As regards the civil disobedience movement the period has been quiet, the only new feature being an attempt to revive salt raids in two places in the Bombay Presidency. During the past fortnight grave communal rioting has occurred in Bombay. The rioting was not organised and did not take the form of clashes between considerable bodies but con- 3 sisted of surprise attacks on temples, mosques or shops and murderous attacks by gangs of both communities. Casualties were mostly inflicted in isolated encounters, many being stabbing cases, and the gangs dispersed rapidly on the approach of patrols, who found the streets empty on their arrival. The Curfew Order and the order prohibiting assemblies which were put in force on the I6th May and the establishment of military and police posts prevented the formation of large bodies, and the combing out by the police with the assistance of the military of bad characters, who have been placed in an emergency jail, stopped looting and incendiarism.
By the 19th May the situation was under control and on that evening the Bombay battalion of the Auxiliary Force, less the light motor patrol and field company, was disembodied. The position continues to improve but the Bombay Government will not relax their intensive precautions until order is completely re-established. In the mill area, where serious trouble threatened, pickets and patrols prevented any large clashes, and the mill operatives who had ceased work at 49 mills on the 19th May began to return, with the result that the number of mills closed on the 20th May was 35 and on the 21st May 14. Final figures of casualties are not available but by the 21st May the dead numbered more than 130 and the injured more than 1,640. By that date 836 arrests had been made.
§ Mr. WARDLAW-MILNEIn view of these very regrettable communal disturbances, have the so-called Congress Volunteers, who claim to have a certain control over the Hindu population at any rate, taken any active part in supporting the Government in bringing back conditions of law and order?
§ Sir S. HOARESo far from having been a help, they have in certain cases been a public danger and in all cases a public nuisance.