The Reminiscences of Zafrulla Khan — Page 54
54 REMINISCENCES OF SIR MUHAMMAD ZAFRULLA KHAN and he fought India's advance towards immediate dominion status every inch of the way. He was examined by the Committee for four days, and though, of course, the Indian side differed with him on every point, yet everybody admired the way he stuck to his point of view and the great skill, dexterity and ability with which he tried to uphold it. When he finished his evidence, everybody around the table, Indians as well as British, gave him an ovation - the cheering went on for some time. Amusing incidents also occurred. One of the members reminded Mr. Churchill that in his original presentation he had urged that a good deal of weight should be attached to the views and opinions of the men on the spot, who had experience of running the administration in India, which, of course, was a valid point. The member pointed out to him that Sir John Thompson, who had been a distinguished civil servant in India and had been Chief Commissioner of Delhi, had expressed his strong support of the White Paper proposals. Churchill affected ignorance of who the man was and added, "If you mean somebody of that name who has become vice-chairman of some organization, set up for the express purpose of boosting these proposals on which the Committee is engaged, surely, surely, I cannot be expected to attach much importance to the views of a person who is openly advocating one particular point of view. " On this the Archbishop of Canterbury interposed, "Surely, My Lord Chairman, Mr. Churchill does not mean that the Committee should not attach any weight to the views of anybody who advocates one particular line of approach on these questions?," implying by that token Mr. Churchill's own views should not receive any consideration on the part of the Committee. But Churchill wriggled out of it. He said, "My Lord Chairman, I must explain what I mean. Of course, the Committee must pay attention to everything that is submitted to it. What I said was that I could not be expected to attach much importance to such views. " One morning Sir Samuel Hoare asked me whether I intended to put any questions to Mr. Churchill. I said, "Sir, I dare not. " He smiled and said, "Well, I don't know that you dare not, but let me tell you that most of the questions addressed to Mr. Churchill have been on general principles whether India should be accorded dominion status or not. Now Churchill is the cleverest debater in the House of Commons and it is very difficult to pin him down. You will have seen that he has been reminded of some of his