The Reminiscences of Zafrulla Khan — Page 31
31 REMINISCENCES OF SIR MUHAMMAD ZAFRULLA KHAN hand, which he was holding by its handle. It looked like a radio set, but obviously it could not have been one as there would be no purpose in Mr. Gandhi bringing a radio set with him. After returning all greetings, he very deliberately opened this box and brought out of it an ingeniously-constructed spinning wheel, a much smaller one than the ones used in India, which could fold into a small case. He set it up with great deliberation and the whole performance drew everybody's attention. We began to hope that a settlement between the Hindus and the Muslims might emerge from the spinning wheel. Then he started spinning on the wheel. After he had drawn out a string or two, he indicated that he was ready to talk. He explained that eager, and, indeed, anxious as he was to come to a settlement with his brethren, the Muslims, and to that end was prepared to accede to whatever they might wish for as safeguards in the future constitution of an independent India, he was acting under a disability. Before he had left India, he had made a promise to Dr. Ansari, who was the most prominent Muslim member of the Congress, that he would not come to any settlement on these questions in his absence. Therefore, before considering anything that may be proposed he would require Dr. Ansari's advice and assistance. He suggested that the Muslim delegation to the Roundtable Conference should make a request to the Secretary of State for India to invite Dr. Ansari to come to London as a delegate to the Roundtable Conference. That raised a very difficult question. After a settlement had been reached between Lord Irwin and Mr. Gandhi that the Congress would be represented in the second Roundtable Conference, and it had been announced that the Congress had given a mandate to Mr. Gandhi to be their sole representative, efforts were made presumably on behalf of the Congress that Dr. Ansari - a prominent Congress leader and a very respected figure indeed - should also be invited as a Muslim representative. To this there had been fierce opposition on the part of some leading Muslim delegates who had participated in the first Roundtable Conference and some who were invited to the second. They had no objection to Dr. Ansari, or any other Muslim member of the Congress, being invited so long as it was understood that they would participate