(    38    )

task  before  us,  then  the  policy   which has been  laid
down can be judged in the light  of all   the facts....We
believe that the announcement  of August 20 was right
and  wise, and that the policy which it embodies is  the
only possible policy   for India."    If, as   I   have  endea¬
voured   to  show,  the  facts   have  not    been   correctly
appreciated, the conclusions deduced from  them cannot
be right.     We have no quarrel with the  policy of the
announcement so far  as it  lays down that complete
responsible government should be established in India
not at one bound but by stages.    But   I   do   not   agree
with the view   that   it   necessarily demands  that  those
stages shall be many and that they shall be  reached in
a long period   of time.    If that were the correct inter¬
pretation of the policy of the announcement, and if that
announcement stood in the way  of the needed measure
of reform, the difficulty must be solved by a more liberal
pronouncement.    The people of India had   no voice in
determining  the  language   of   the   announcement   of
August 20, and the cause   of  Indian  reform must  not
be prejudiced by it.    But I maintain  that there is  no¬
thing in that announcement which stands in the way of
a substantial measure of responsible government being
introduced as the first step towards the goal.    We have
urged that the Congress-League scheme should be that
first step.    But if that is not to be, the proposals   under
consideration   must  yet be  expanded and modified to
become    adequate   to   meet   the  requirements   of   the
situation.    I   will   indicate below   the mam  directions
in   which,  in   my opinion,   the   proposals  should   be
modified and expanded.

Suggestions for Modlficatioo and Expansion.

27. (i) The many qualifying conditions contained in
the]pronouncement of August 20, created a suspicion
in the minds of Indians that though his Majesty's Gov¬
ernment had declared responsible government to be the