Perhaps I am striking a discordant note when I say I do not believe that association with the Commonwealth is going to improve our relations with South Africa. But I do believe that our association will mean that all the influences and the resources–the imponderables exercised in no small degree by America and by England will be thrown in on the side of India and that matters may not get worse. From my own experience, I believe–I may be wrong-ultimately we will only be able to resolve the South African question according to the measure of our own strength. And that is why I say that our policy must be broad-based, and India’s strength should be built up most rapidly. It may take us five years; it may take us ten years. But any realist, any sober person must realise that in the world we are living in today, in the final analysis, one’s strength is measured exactly by one’s military might, and that is why I feel that ultimately we will only be able to resolve the South African-Indian question when we are in a position to be able to demonstrate militarily–as the Japanese did–at Durban. But that is, as I have said, no reason for leaving the Commonwealth, because it may consist of one or two blacklegs or renegades.
