§ Q3. Mr. Huntasked the Prime Minister whether he will outline his proposed arrangements for the commemoration of Gandhi Centenary year.
§ Q7. Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Prime Minister what steps are being taken to 1486 commemorate the Gandhi Centenary year; and if he will make a statement.
§ The Prime MinisterHer Majesty's Government have contributed £5,000 to the United Kingdom Committee for the Gandhi Centenary. In addition, we contributed £4,000 towards the cost of the statue of Gandhi in Tavistock Square and some £10,000 to cover the cost of a British Pavilion at the Gandhi International Exhibition in Delhi. Apart from this, the Post Office is issuing a special commemorative stamp and the India Office Library is mounting a special exhibition.
§ Mr. HuntWhile acknowledging that help and the issue of the commemorative stamp, to which the Prime Minister has referred—very fittingly designed by an Indian resident of this country—may I ask the Prime Minister also to continue to encourage positive participation by the Government in the centenary activities, partly as a tribute to a very great man and also as a means of furthering Indo-British relations, which in recent years, as the Prime Minister is well aware, have from time to time suffered considerable strains and stresses?
§ The Prime MinisterYes, Sir, I agree with the objectives in the hon. Member's question. He was probably present at the great festival in Tavistock Square last year when I unveiled the Gandhi memorial. I hope, as, indeed, do other Ministers to be able to attend the very special centenary tribute at the Royal Albert Hall in October as part of the Gandhi centenary celebrations.
§ Mr. Carter-JonesIn thanking my right hon. Friend for his observations, may I ask whether, in view of Mahatma Gandhi's contribution to securing the peaceful transfer of power from His Majesty's Government to the peoples of the sub-continent in India, it would not now be appropriate for the Government to initiate, in this particular year, a study of the rôle of non-violence in the conduct of world affairs today?
§ The Prime MinisterThat raises a much wider issue and, of course, a much wider geographical setting. But those of us who have been called upon to pay tribute to the memory of the late Mahatma Gandhi, as I have, not only in speeches, but in writing, while not agreeing with everything he did in relation to 1487 the United Kingdom at certain critical times, will, I think, pay tribute to the extent to which he tried, in the solution of this problem and other problems with which India was later concerned, to bring the concept of non-violent solutions.
§ Sir J. RodgersWhile the whole House will welcome the contribution by the Government to the Mahatma Gandhi commemoration, may I ask the Prime Minister to explain why his attitude with regard to a statue to Sir Winston Churchill in Parliament Square is so ambivalent? Why does not the Prime Minister make the same generous gesture for the provision of a statue to Sir Winston Churchill?
§ The Prime MinisterThe hon. Gentleman has introduced a rather sour note into an issue of great importance in Anglo-Indian relations, quite apart from our desire to pay tribute at this centenary time. The hon. Gentleman will have heard the Answers I gave concerning a statue to Sir Winston Churchill. What I said was that we were prepared—and I think that this carries the support of those sponsoring the proposal—to make an appropriate contribution to it but that it would mean far more if those involved could make it the subject of a nation-wide appeal, with support from the many thousands, perhaps millions, who wish to pay tribute to Sir Winston Churchill. I do not think that that is on a parallel with this issue.