Another ground on which the Muslim objection to Hindu Raj rests is that the Hindus are a majority community and the Mussalmans are animosity community. True, but is India the only country where such a Situation exists? Let us compare the conditions in India with the conditions in Canada, South Africa and Switzerland, First, take the dis attribution of population, In Canada, out of & total population of 10,376,786 only 2,927,990 are French, In South Africa, the Dutch Number 1,120,770 and the English are only 783,071, In Switzerland, out of the total population of 4,066,400 the Germans arc 2,924,313, the French 831,097 and the Italians 242,034.
‘This shows that the smaller nationalities have no fear of being placed under the Raj of a major “community. Such a notion seems to be quite foreign to them, Why is ‘this so? Is it because there is no “possibility of the major nationality establishing its supremacy in those “tenders of power and authority, “namely the Legislature and in the Executive? Quite the contrary, ~ Minor nationalities: Unfortunately no figures are available to show the actual extent of representation which the different major a minor nationalities have in Switzerland, Canada and South Africa. That is because there is no communal reservation of seats such 5 is found in India, Each community is left. To win in a general con~ Test what number of seats it can. But it is quite easy to work out the “probable number of scuds which “each nationality can obtain on the basis of the ratio of its population to eat he Local seats in the Legislature.
‘Preceding on this basis what do we find? In Switzerland and 1otal representatives in the Lower House are 187. Out of them the German population has a possibility of winning 138, French 42 and Italians only 7 seats. In South Africa out the total of 153, there is possibility of the English gaining 62, and the Dutch 94 seats, In Canada, the total is 245.
Of these the French have only 65. Fear of Hindu Raj: On this basis it is quite clear that in all these countries there is a possibility of the major nationality establishing its supremacy over the minor nationalities. Indeed, one may go so far to say that speaking de Jure and as. A mere matter of form in Canada the French are living under the Brit is Raj, the English in South Africa under the Dutch Raj, and the Italians and French in Switzerland under the German Raj. But what is the position de facto? Have French men in Canada raised acryl that they will not British Raj? Have Englishmen in South Africa raised a cry that they will not live under Dutch Raj? Hayed the French and Italians in Switzerland any objection to living under the German Raj? Why should then the Muslims raise this er of Hindu Raj? Naked majority: Is it proposed that the Hindu Raj should be the rule of a naked communal majority? Ar not the Mussalmans granted. ‘Sale euros against the possible tyranny’ o! The Hindu majority? Arc not the safeguards given to the Mussalmans of India wider and better than the safeguards which have been given to the French in Canada, to the English in South Africa and to the French and the Halians in Switzerland? To take only one item from the list of safeguards, haven’t the Mussalmans got an enormous degree of weightage in representation in the Legislature? Is weightage known in Canada, South Africa or Switzerland? And what is the effect of this weightage to Muslims? Is it not to reduce the Hindu majority in the Legislature? What is the degree of reduction? Confining ourselves to British India and taking recount only of the representation granted Lo the territorial constituencies, Hindu and Muslim, in the Lower House in the Central Legislature under the Government of India Ace, 1935, it is clear that out of a total of 187, the Hindus have 105 seats and the Muslims have 82 seats, Given these figures one is forced to ask where is the fear of the Hindu Raj? Greatest calamity: If Hindu Raj does become a fact, it will, no doubt, be the greatest calamity for this country. No matter what the Hindus say, Hinduism is a menace to liberty, equality and fraternity, on that account it is incompatible with democracy. Hindu Raj must be prevented at any cost. But is Pakistan the true remedy against it? What makes communal Raj possible is a marked disproportion i n the relative strength of the various communities living in a country, As pointed out above, this disproportion is not more marked in India than it is in Canada, South Africa and Switzerland. Nonetheless there is no British Raj in Canads, no Dutch Raj in South Africa, and no German Raj in Switzerland. Partition no solution: How have the French, the English and the Italians succeeded in preventing the Raj of the majority community being established in their country? Surely not by partition. What is their method? Their method is to put a ban on communal parties in politics. No community in Canada, South Africa or Switzerland ever thinks of starting a separate communal party. What is important to note is that it is the minority nations which have taken the lead in opposing the formation of a communal party, for they know that if they form 2 communal political party the major community will also form a communal party and the majority will thereby find it easy to establish its communal Raj. It is @ vicious method of self-protection. It is because the minority nations are fully aware how they will be hoisted on their own petard that they have opposed the formation of communal political parties, Muslim howl: Have the Muslims thought of this method of avoiding. Hindu Raj? Have they considered how easy it is avoid it? Have they considered how futile and harmful the present policy of the Legacies? The Muslims are howling against the Hindu Maha Sabha and its slogan of Hindu Dom and Hindu Raj. But who is responsible for this? Hindu Maha Sabha and Hindu Raj are the inescapable nemesis which the Mussalmans have brought upon themselves by having a Muslim League. It is action and counteraction, one gives rise to the other.
Not partition, but the abolition of the Muslim League and the formation of a mixed party of Hindus and Muslims is the only effective way of burying the ghost of Hindu Raj, It is, of course, not possible for Muslims and other minority parties to join the Congress or the Hindu Maha Sabha so long as the disagreement on the question of constitutional safeguards continues” But this question will be settled, is bound to be scuttled and there is every hope that the settlement will result in securing (0 the Muslims and other minorities the safeguards they need, Once this consummation, which we so devoutly wish, takes place nothing can stand in the way of a party realignment, of the Congress and the Maha Sabha breaking up and of Hindus and Mussalmans forming mixed political parties based on an agreed programme of social und economic regeneration, and thereby avoid the danger of both Hindu Raj and Muslim Raj becoming a fact. Dalits hate Hindus: Nor should the formation of a mixed party of Hindus and Muslims be difficult in India. There are many lower orders in the Hindu society whose economic, political and social needs are the same as those of the majority of the Muslims and they would be far more ready to make a common cause with Uric Muslims for achieving common ends lain they would with the high caste of Hindus who have denied and deprived them of ordinary human rights for centimes. To pursue such a course cannot be called an adventure. The path along that link is a well-trodden path. Is if not a fact that under the Montague Chelmsford reforms in most provinces, if not in all, the Muslims, the Non Brahmins and the Depressed Classes united together and worked. The reforms as members of one i cam from 190 to 1937? Herein lay the most fruitful method of chivying communal harmony among Hindus and Muslims and of destroying the danger of a Hindu Raj. Mr.Jinnaly could have easily pursued this link. Jinnah’s ability: Nor was it difficult for Mr. Jinnah to succeed in it Indeed Mr. Jinnah is the one person who had all the chances of success ‘on his side if he had tried to form such audited no communal party. He has the ability to organize. He had the reputation of a nationalist. Even many Hindus who were opposed to the Congress would have flocked to him if he had only sent out a Call for a. united party of Tike minded Hindus and Muslims, What did Mr Jinnal do? In 1937 Mr. Jinnah made his canary into Muslim politics and strangely enough he regenerated the Muslim League which was dying and decaying and of which only a few years ago he would have been glad to witness the funeral. However regrettable the slating of such a communal political party may have been, there was in it one reliving feature. That was the leadership of Mr. Jinnah. Everybody felt that with the leadership of Mr. Jinnalt the League could never become a merely communal party. League not communal: The resolutions passed by the League during the first two years of its new career indicated that it would develop into a mixed political party of Hindus and Muslims. At the annual session of the Muslim League held at Lucknow in October 1937 altogether 1S resolutions were passed. The following two are of special interest in this connection. Resolution No.7: “This meeting of the All India Muslim League deprecates and protests against the formation of Miniseries in certain Provinces by the Congress parties in Magnet violation of the Letter and the spirit of the Government of India Ace, 1935, and Instrument of Instructions and condemns the Governors for their failure to enforce the special powers entrusted (o them for the safeguards of the interests of the Mussalmans and other important minorities.” Resolution No.8:
“Resolved that the object of the All India Muslim League shall be the establishment in India of Full Independence in the form of federation Of free democratic¢ states in which the rights and interests of the Mussalmans and other minorities area adequately and effectively safeguarded in the constitution”. Equal number of resolutions were passed al the next annual session of the League held at Pain in December 1938. Resolution No.1 0is noteworthy, It reads as follows: “The All India Muslim League reiterates its view that the scheme of Federation embodied In the Government of India Act, 1935, is not acceptable, but in view of the further developments that have taken place or may take place from time to time To put it differently Pakistan f unnecessary to Muslims where they are in a majority because there, there is no fear of Hindu Raj. I his worse than useless 10 Muslims where they arc in 4 minority, because Pakistan or no Pakistan they will have to face a Hindu Raj. Can politics be more futile than the politics of the Muslim League? The Mutiny League started to help minority Muslims and has ended by espousing the cause of majority Muslims. What a perversion in the Original aim of the Muslim League! What a ful from the sublime to the ridiculous! Partition as a remedy against Hindu Raj is worse than useless.
Courtesy: Dalit Voice.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 9, 1994
