Maths on some pretext or other, because a Shastra can be easily quoted for any position if the priest is clever enough. In fact, the Punjab Legislature is asked not to pass its own laws but to give a blank cheque to the Brahmans to enforce the law of unknown books unknown to the Legislature and unknown to the people to be bound by them.

This is the Sanatana Dharma defined in the Bill; the Bill wants to make use of the temples, Dharmashalas, etc., and their funds for the propagation and promotion of this creed [Section 51. (c)].

 

  1. The scheme of administration proposed in the Bill is bound to be inefficient, and lead to corruption and also exploitation.

The Central authority is in a board elected for five years (Sections 3 and 4) by Sanatana Dharrni voters. But this authority is to be actually exercised by an Executive Committee of five persons [II (c) ]. A majority of these five, viz., three persons will wield almost all the authority under the Bill without any control from the Government. Even Municipalities, Corporations, Joint Stock Companies, Schools and Colleges, Co-operative Societies, etc., have the benefit of Government control. But this Hindu Religious Endowment Board, exercising jurisdiction throughout the Province, with many hundreds of institutions under its control, with power to influence the social status, rights and privileges and the religious consolations of millions of Hindus is to be entirely free from all Government control. Because the Government is not a Puranie Government guided by the Brahmans and their Shastras! This arrangement would be an abdication of the duty imposed upon the Government to safeguard not only public property and funds, but also the freedom of the people.

If the Bill is for the better management of the institutions, the entire executive authority, from the Central Committee down to the village Panchayat, should be under the direct control of a Government Department in charge of a Hindu Minister. The elective bodies should have only legislative functions. Otherwise the Bill will be creating a Government within a Government, a new State within a State. Because the Board constituted under the Bill proposes to exercise Legislative, Executive and Judicial authority in the affairs covered by the Bill uninterfered with by the existing Government It is a kind of Swaraj granted to the Brahmans, a Dominion Status for the rule of caste and priestcraft.

The Bill creates three classes of electorates, three classes of candidates for election, with three grades of qualifications, and provides for general elections in three years for the Panchayats, and five years for the Board. This arrangement will be a waste of time and money and fruitful of constant wrangling and endless trouble to the people and the authorities. The provisions for the election of Sri Mahants are vague and unworkable.

 

  1. The Bill has no important constructive proposals for the better management of the Hindu institutions or for making them more beneficial to the Hindus.

 If temples, Dharmashalas and Maths are to become really serviceable to the Hindus they should be managed by trained workers or qualified missionaries or Sadhus. There is no provision to turn out such workers. who will serve the public instead of exploiting them. The Bill has no hopes to give to the down-trodden Hindus, and to those who are oppressed and disgraced by caste. The Bill does not want to give any definite liberal religious instruction to the Hindu people. The Bill has no pro-. vision to divert the surplus funds to useful purposes, such as water-supply, roads, aid to agricultural improvement, development of village industries, etc. The Bill does not think of the Hindu widows, orphans, destitutes and crippled who deserve the help of all religious institutions. and persons. It has no message of unification or consolidation of the Hindus. It is barren of all substantial, benefit to the Hindu masses.

 

  1. Arya Samajists must be Careful.

 The Bill does not clearly exclude the Arya &mai, as it does the Sikhs. It gives power to the Board to call for returns and statements even from private institutions {Section 86). The Bill generally applies to all Hindu religious and charitable endowments created for public purposes [Section 1 (2)]. If the Arya Samaj is a Hindu institution it may be covered by this Section. Section 19 gives power to the Board to bring under the operation of the Bill all shrines and their properties situ-ated in the Punjab and governed by the Bill. The Board may include the Arya Samaj institutions in their list prepared under Section 19, and there will then be no remedy open to the Arya Samajists to get out of its operation. The result will be that the Arya Samaj will come under the control of a Board and Panchayats in which there will be no Arya Samajists and in whose election the Arya Samajists will have no voice at all.

In fact, one underlying motive appears to be the creation of a strong orthodox opposition to the liberal influence of the Arya Samaj among the Hindus and in the long run to absorb the Samaj itself into the reactionary Puranic Hinduism, just in the same way as Buddhilsm and other progressive movements were crushed.

 VII., The Bill gives permanent recognition and status to the Sanatana Dharma Pratinidhi Sabha and helps it to establish affiliated Sabhas all over the Province by holding out to the members of the Executive Committees of all Sanatana Dharma Sabhas of three years’ standing the right to be registered as electors even if they do not possess any other qualification prescribed for the general electors. (Sections 29 and 42).

 Side by side with the destruction of the religious fraternities, there is another underlying motive in the Bill, and that is the establishment of a Hindu organisation based on caste and the ascendency of the Brahman, community. The Sanatoria Dharma Pratinidhi Sabha is to be the nucleus of this Puranic revival. The Bill gives a permanent legal status to the Sabha. The Sabha has recommended some amendments, and it seems they have been accepted by the member-in-charge of the Bill. These amendments place the real motive of the authors of the Bill beyond doubt. According to the amended provisions, the Sabha will have six seats reserved for its representatives in every District Committee. The Brahman Poojaries are also to have special representationn. It would appear that the members of the Sabha can vote and stand as candidates in the general constituencies also. Thus they will practically have a double vote and a double representation, which means the District Committees will, if not immediately, in a short time be completely dominated by the Sabha. The scheme of the Central Board also has been altered to serve the same purpose of the gradual aggrandisement of the Sabha. It looks almost like a calculated plot to attain the ascendency and monopoly of all real power for the Sabha under the leading strings of the Brahman community.. The procedure is too patent to deceive any thoughtful person.

First in the name  of Hindu Society persecute and destroy the Sadhus and Mahants.

Second in the name of Sanatana Dharma deprive the Hindus of all their rights.

Third. in the name of Sanatana Dharma Pratirddhi Sabha deprive the Sanatani public of their rights by manipulating the elections.

Last keep the leading strings of the Sabha in the hands of the Brahman-community.

The result will be that the Brahman-community will once more, as in ancient days, ride on the necks of the Hindus and become the sacred masters of all their Dharrnashalas, temples and Maths, propagating with the sanction of the State the rule of caste, and the religion of priestcraft. The Hindus of the Punjab must be worse than simpletons to swallow this bait.

 All reference to the Sanatana Dharma Pratinidhi Sabha and its affiliated Sabhas should be deleted from the Bill. All the voters are Hindus. The Sabha has no interest or right or even status distinct from the Hindu voters or the Hindu public. Special representation of the Sabha would therefore be nothing more than a trick to defeat the Hindu public and the purpose of the Bill. It would be just like allowing the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League to send their own representatives to the Assemblies and Councils in opposition to the elected representatives of the people.

 VIII. The Bill is morally unsupportable and will be a gross misuse of the machinery of the Punjab Legislature.

 From the ancient days down to the present the Brahman-community have always stood for the suppression of the freedom and self-respect of the Hindus and their exploitation by all the tricks of priestcraft and superstition. In opposition to the Brahmans there have always existed various orders of Sadhus, Monks, Ascetics and Reformers preaching against the evil of caste and priestcraft. The Brahmans as the religious leaders of the Hindu public have utilised every opportunity of using the power of the Governments for crushing their enemies, the religious fraternities. It was with the help of the Rajput conquerors that the Brahmans mercilessly destroyed the Buddhist monks, took possession of their monasteries and their wealth and converted them into rich temples. It was with the help often of the Muslim Rulers that the Brahmans persecuted the great Vaishnavite saints of North India and Maharashtra. It was with the help of the East India Company that the Brahmans established their control over the South Indian temples which before that period were governed by the Agamas and did not recognise caste. Now with the help of the Punjab legislature, the attempt is being made to history the hereditary enemies of the Brahmans—the Sadhus and Mahants. No doubt the latter have degenerated, but the Bill has really not a single constructive suggestion to reform them, or to promote the creation of an order of competent Sadhus and workers or to preserve the original liberal character of the religious fraternities. On the other hand, the remedy, proposed by the Bill is the steady extirpation of the religious fraternities, the destruction of the liberal character and ideals of the foundations, and the imposition of a narrow creed and the supremacy of the Brahmans.

The Sadhus may spoil their own lives and injure a few who are in close proximity to them. Their capacity for mischief stops there. But the Brahmans roam about ,everywhere. They go into every Hindi homer they are in every sphere of life—social, religious, political, educational and administrative. Everywhere they forge fetters of caste and crush the freedom and manliness of the Hindus and frustrate the national movements. In the Punjab they have not got sufficient economic resources or social status. The Bill will put the immense resources of the temples, Dharmashalas, Maths, etc., in their hands and raise them once more in public life as the leaders of the Hindu slaves.

The simple-minded Hindus of the Punjab have two great yearnings and these sacred yearnings are to be exploited by the Bill. (1) The Hindus passionately love the term cSanatana Dharma.’ They would like to pre-serve it at any cost. It is an inspiration to them. There¬fore exactly this word is used in the Bill, quite against the teachings of all the Shastras and scriptures, to ‘make the Hindus yield_ their necks to the yoke of caste humilia¬tion and Brahman tyranny. (2) Secondly, the Hindus of the Punjab want to organise themselves like the Sikhs and the Aryas. They point to the Sikh Gurdwara Act. ‘They are jealous of the great work that the Arya Samaj is doing. The Hindus would make any sacrifice to be able to consolidate their society like their neighbour communities. This aspiration is to be exploited by the Bill to make the Hindus once more bow at the feet of the Brahmans. The Sikhs and Aryas have saved themselves  from the worst sins of the Hindus; their organisations, aim at a larger life of greater freedom, justice and brotherhood. Theirs are righteous organisations. But alas! the Hindus want to organise in order to revive the evils, frauds, exploitation, and humiliation of their fellowmen. Theirs is a sinful organisation. It aims at thwarting the liberal influences of the Sikhs, the Aryas, the Brahmos, and the great national leaders like Mahatma, Gandhi, and make one last effort to resuscitate the dying forces of caste slavery and Brahman tyranny. The Bill is an undisguised challenge to the Indian National Congress to do its worst to abolish untouchability and throw open temples to all Hindus.

  1. Suggestions for overhauling the Bill.

(a)        The definition of `Hindu’ should be changed thus:. “A Hindu means a native of India, other than a Muslim,. Christian, Parsi, a Jew or follower of any religion started outside India, who makes a declaration that he is a Hindu..

(b)        All reference to Sanatana Dharma should be deleted from the Bill. It is a sacred word and all the Vedas-cannot exhaust its meaning. It would be a sacrilege to give it a crude description in one clause of a Bill.

(c)        All reference to the S. D. P. Sabha and its affiliated Sabhas should be deleted for reasons stated above.

(d)        Franchise should be widened and there should.: be only one register of elections, instead of three. A form may be prescribed for applying for registration as an elector and it may be priced at one anna. Any Hindu. who can read and understand the form and fill it up in his own handwriting shoujd be entitled to be so registered. The register may be renewed every year. The expenses of preparing the register and the elections will thus be met by the one anna which every voter will have to pay for the form.

(e)        The qualifications of the candidates for election should be revised,

  (f)      Those who believe in caste by birth should be disenfranchised and debarred from all services in the temples, Dharmashalas, Maths, etc., because they cannot be good citizens, and they are believing in something which is opposed to the teachings of the Hindu scriptures, Rishis .and teachers.

(g)        Provision should be made for establishing Training Schools for Hindu workers and missionaries and for recruiting Mahants, Sadhus, Trustees, Poojaries, Managers, etc., from among trained men only.

(h)        Funds and income of the institutions should be -used only for the maintenance of the institutions, their inmates and workers, for the performance of worship and for the imparting of religious education in the premises .and training and maintaining missionaries. All surplus income should be free to be utilised for the practical benefit of the Hindu public, such as water supply, maintenance of the poor and orphans, famine relief, medical aid, agricultural improvement, etc., etc.

(0 The executive administration of all the subjects .and all the institutions brought under the operation of the Bill should be vested in a permanent Department of the Government in the charge of one of the Hindu Ministers of the Government and the offices of Mahants, Trustees, Managers, etc. should have the benefits of the security wand discipline of Government service, and freedom to preserve their spiritual life.

CO The elected Board and the Panchayats should have only legislative and advisory powers on matters affecting the public.

(k) There should be no separate judicial authority under the Bill. The executive will have sufficient power -to carry out its orders; therefore all questions requiring judicial decision must be referred in the ordinary course -to the Civil Courts of the Government.

The above proposals will make the administration simpler, more efficient and free from corruption and less expensive. The Hindu public will be spared the trouble and worry of selfish wranglings at the frequent elections. The Government need not abdicate its legitimate duties and powers to a Caste-Raj. An educated order of Sadhus will be created.

All the Sections of the Bill should be recast in thy-spirit of the above suggestions.